Autumn Magic
by Rivvy
Summary: Maggie Carpenter's family is large and extends all over Chicago, but it is bigger than she thinks as something unexpected comes into her life that changes everything she knows, and will have her discovering all new things about herself and her parents.
1. The Man with the Staff

**Disclaimer: Jim Butcher owns all the characters I am using to get some creative juices flowing.**

****_Author's Note: This story is not going to probably follow the cannon of the novels, and I know that the next one comes out in November, but I thought about this for some time and figured it would be fun to get something like this out of me. I hope that you enjoy it and if I have any more chapters after this one I will post it, but this may be a one shot who knows._

Chapter One: The Man with the Staff

"Gorram it!" I screamed, slamming the front door of the house so hard it shook one of the pictures off the wall in the entry way. The large, furry carpet, laying just far enough from the door for it to open but not too far to attack anything that was a threat came in, jumped up with his teeth bared and a snarl filling the small space before noticing it was me. "It's just me, Mouse." His breath let out in a huff as he settled back onto the floor, putting his head on his front paws. I stormed through the house to the kitchen where Mom was cooking…something. She turned to me, and before I could say anything she pointed out the window to the backyard.

"He is in his shed," she sighed before turning back to the stove. "Set your bag on the table before you go out there."

"Yes, Mom," I yelled, dropping my bag on the table and stomping out the backdoor to confront the man responsible for what happened today. I threw open the door to his shed and put my hands on my hips. "You just could not stand me dating Jonathan, could you?" The large man unbent from the project on his woodworking table and turned to me, his normally warm and friendly face giving me a confused look.

"Maggie, what are you talking about?" he asked, setting down the wood burner.

"Oh don't play dumb, Dad. Ever since he started riding a motorcycle and hanging out with the biker group downtown you have been dead set against us not being together," I said, starting to tap my foot. "Jonathan told me that he couldn't date me anymore today when I saw him after Trig. Something about it was not good for the both of us to start getting so serious when we were both so young. I asked him what brought it on and finally confessed some large dude told him that if we continued to date it would be bad for his health. So, who did you send Dad?"

"What makes you think that he is telling the truth?" he asked, leaning back on the table to take some of the weight off his legs. Dad never talked to me about the accident that almost took his life, he just said we had to thank God that he was alive and live the life to the fullest.

"Why would he not Dad?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "I may not know much about your life, but come on Dad. How many people in the world can find a tall dude in a duster and glowing staff? Where did you find him? A child's birthday party company?"

"Maggie, what are you talking about?" Dad asked, coming over to me and grabbing me by the shoulders. He looked me in the eyes, concern filling the one good eye. "Honey, what did Jonathan say?"

"What does it matter?" I snapped, trying to shake him off. He gripped my shoulders tighter, shaking me as his face grew grim.

"Margaret Angelica Carpenter," he said, his voice growing low and gruff. "Tell me everything the Jonathan said about that man."

"He said that…that the man was tall. Taller than he was," my voice shook as I said that. My father doesn't use my full name often. He said that names have had power since the dawn of time, so he only used it once in a blue moon. It was usually when something strange happened that I wouldn't talk about or when I had done something really bad that made him angry with me, which was rare since my sister, Molly, pretty much did everything under the sun to torture him and Mom when she was my age. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and trying to remember everything Jonathan had told me about the man. "He wore a long black duster, and he held a rod with some writing that glowed red. There was a…a pentacle around his neck that glowed a faint blue light."

"His face. Margaret what about his face," Dad said, his voice growing rougher.

"He said…he said the face he saw was something he never wanted to see again," I whispered, my hands clenching to fists by my side. Jonathan's face was filled with fear when he said that. I was still so shocked about the way he was breaking up with me that I didn't even register his fear till now. Mom and Dad always told me to make sure that I knew about reading people's body language, and had Aunt Karrin teach me about it since I was nine.

_"Always know what your opponent is thinking." _She told me countless of times. Aunt Karrin use to be part of the Chicago Police Department, but she left them when I was eight. She never told me why. She said she took half-retirement and never looked back. Now she taught martial arts at her Dojo downtown as well as firearms courses. She was a tough woman, and told me that she promised my Dad that she would take care of me, which basically meant beating my ass into submission five out of seven days a week.

"Maggie," Dad said, stepping back, letting my shoulders. "I need you to go inside and do your homework in your room until dinner time."

"Mom likes-"

"I know what your mother likes but this once, just go do your homework in your room," he told me, turning back to his table. "I will be in to deal with your mother in a moment."

"Okay Dad," I said, taking a couple steps back. "Love you, Pops."

"Love you, Mags," he said, picking up the wood burner and going back to work on the project. I walked back in the house and grabbed my bag before Mom could see me. I ran up the stairs, Mouse lumbering behind me with his usual happy, tongue hanging out expression. He has been my constant companion for as long as I could remember. He even tried to follow me to school on the first day, till Mom gave him the stare. Even Uncle Sanya cowers under it on his rare visits. I closed my door behind me and dumped the contents of my bag on my bed. I had no homework really. I usually just sat at the table doing some sort of reading or even getting ahead in most of my subjects so when Aunt Karrin holds me over at the Dojo I can just do my chores and go to bed. I had a little bit of math which I breezed through and did some finishing touches on my paper for Medieval History. Uncle Sanya gave me some really great information from his military posting in France a few months ago, and it made my history teacher almost gasp in shock. I wish I could have a computer to do my work on, but after the fourth computer died for some sort of electrical malfunction, Dad explained to my teachers that I needed to just go ahead and write the assignments out. It was a pain to do research the old fashioned way while everyone else got to press buttons and magically have things at their fingertips, but sometimes it was much better information getting the other sources. Once I finished that, I meditated till dinner. I walked down the stairs, smelling my mother's beef stew and hearing Mom talking to someone.

"I thought he was underground for a while longer," she said. "I know it is getting closer to winter so he will be out more but it is the beginning of October. Surely he cannot be out that early."

"I will put my ear to the ground and see what I can find," I heard Aunt Karrin say. "Butters might have heard something." I rolled my eyes. Uncle Waldo was probably the geekiest man I knew, and that includes most of the boys I knew in high school. He played D&D, owned his own lederhosen, and carried a fake human skull around with him everywhere. I walked into the kitchen and Aunt Karrin nodded at me. "Glad to hear you have been keeping up with your school work.

"If I didn't you would kick my butt more than my parents would," I said giving her a hug. She was about half a foot shorter than I was, making it comical that I was afraid of her if you just met her on the street, but I have seen her take down a man three times my size. I smiled at her before turning to Mom. "Anyone else coming to dinner?"

"Little Harry might make it," Mom said.

"Great," I said, trying not to roll my eyes as I grabbed some plates out of the cabinet. Little Harry was a seriously stupid nickname. He was in no way little, six foot nine and built like an NFL star. He just started playing ball at a nearby university with a full athletic scholarship. Mom wasn't too happen about him not being able to totally focus on academics, but Dad just laughed, telling her that having four kids graduate from college should be enough and to let him have his fun. He was always getting on to me about the people I chose to hang out with and what I was doing with my life. I hate it when he comes over. Mouse padded into the kitchen and leaned heavily against Aunt Karrin's leg. I saw her get down in the floor and bury her face and hands in his fur before I went to set the table. Dad walked in as I finished setting out the last bit of the silverware.

"You finish your homework?" Dad asked in Latin.

"Yes Father," I replied in Latin. "How is the work in your shop coming?"

"It is going well," Dad replied in Latin. "Why are there five places set at the table?"

"Mother said that Little Harry might come to dinner, and Aunt Karrin is in the kitchen," I told him in Latin.

"Don't speak dead languages that other people, don't know," Little Harry said as he walked into the dining room. "I still don't understand why you speak it."

"It is the language of the church, Harry," Dad said, easing himself into one of the chairs.

"Dad, it is a dead language. Deal with it," Little Harry said, walking into the kitchen. I sat down next to Dad and rolled my eyes.

"What does he have against Latin?" I asked.

"He just doesn't want to learn it," Dad said, giving me one of his famous smiles and winking the cloudy eye. Mouse came in and sat next to my dad, putting his head in Dad's lap. Dad gave him a very serene smile, laying his hand on Mouse's head. "Ah, the ever watchful guardian. How are things in the house today?" Mouse gave him a soft woof before licking Dad's hand and settling into the floor. Dad chuckled and leaned back as Mom came in with bowls of beef stew. She set one down in front of me before giving Dad his and giving him a kiss. I made a face. Mom and Dad were always like teenagers when it came to affection, and that is saying a lot coming from a teenager. Little Harry and Aunt Karrin came in with their bowls and some bread. Everyone sat down, and Da said prayer before we started eating.

"How is school, Little Harry?" Aunt Karrin asked.

"It is school, Murphy," Little Harry said, tipping his bowl up and pouring almost half of it in his mouth. "The food there sucks."

"Language, Little Harry," Mom said, giving him a disapproving look, probably more for the dumping the stew in his mouth than the language. Mom may look like your average housewife, but I have heard her mutter more than her far share of foul language in her blacksmith shop.

"Sorry, Mom," Little Harry apologized before dumping the rest of the stew in his mouth and going back for seconds.

"That boy definitely can eat his weight in food," Aunt Karrin laughed.

"Daniel use to be the same at his age," Dad said, slowly chewing his food and swallowing it with some effort. I don't know if he does that because of his accident or if he just enjoys Mom's cooking that much. "I am so pleased my daughters at least have some manners."

"Thanks, Dad," I said around a mouth full of food. Mom sighed.

"I hope that my grandchildren will be better with their eating habits," she said as she started eating her stew. Little Harry came back and Aunt Karrin sighed.

"I want you in bed early tonight," Dad told me.

"But I wanted to get some work on our project done," I whined. I usually don't resort to it but I was so close to finishing the carvings on it that I wanted to get it done in time for Halloween. Every year the school has this wicked haunted house and my sister's husband, Carlos, gave me this awesome design from his grandmother that she uses above the door on the house for Dia De Los Muertos that protects the dwelling from evil spirits. I got a really nice piece of oak from one of the local lumber yards and Dad even showed me how to follow the pattern in the wood to use it to the fullest.

"Mags, we need you to get to bed early tonight," Dad said with the tone he usually reserved for Hope when she was heading out of the house with something on that was less than conservative. It sent Hope scurrying back to her room and into something more appealing to my father's conservative side. Me, it just made me sigh and want to bargain.

"Dad, come on, it is almost done," I said.

"I want you in bed early," he stated.

"But Dad-"

"Margaret," Mom said quietly, her voice a quiet but forceful wall. "We need some time alone with your aunt. You will be in bed early tonight."

"Yes, Mom," I said, trying not to be shocked. She rarely used that tone of voice. Mom was not very vocal when it came to setting rules about things. She had standards she expected to be met, but she rarely ever set a solid rule on something. The rest of dinner was finished in silence; the only noise was the occasional question from Aunt Karrin about Little Harry's classes or Dad asking Aunt Karrin how her work at the Dojo was coming along.

"Now, bed," Dad said, taking my bowl and handing it to Little Harry. "If you want to I can help you some in the morning before you head to school on your project if you are awake enough."

"Thanks, Dad," I said, giving him a smile and kissing his cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too, Maggie," he said, giving me a strange smile and winding one of my black locks around his fingers. "Don't ever forget that."

"Why would I?" I said, shaking my head and heading out the dining room. Mouse once again followed me up the stairs and sat outside the door while I took my shower. He once tried to follow me when I was a kid and Mom calmly told him that he could not be in the bathroom with me unless he was getting a bath. Mouse stood guard at the door from then on unless we were giving him a bath. I blow dried out my long black hair and used my facial scrub before putting on my Star Wars pajamas that Daniel got me for Christmas last year. I crinkled my nose at my reflection, checking my very light brown complexion for any blemishes before I left the bathroom. Mouse looked up at me and whined, laying his ears back. "Oh, you big baby do you always need a treat after my bath? Fine, let's go get you one." I reached midway down the stairs when I heard Little Harry say talking quietly in the dining room.

"I can come home and stay for a couple of weeks. Commuting shouldn't be an issue since most of my classes are after eleven," he said.

"No, it is fine," Dad said. "I am pretty sure he wouldn't try anything."

"How do you know?" Mom said. "He has never done anything so blatant before in her life with us."

"That is not how he works Charity," Aunt Karrin said. "You know that is not how he works."

"But he hasn't been seen by anyone for years," Mom said. "He must have some motive for what he did."

"Do you think someone has been spying on her for him?" Dad said.

"I wouldn't put it past some of the lower Fae to follow him to the end of the Nevernever and back," Aunt Karrin said. I furrowed my eyebrows in thought. Fae was another name for fairies. I used to love them when I was a kid and would always want to dress up as them. Molly told me that it wasn't nice to make fun of something like that, so I quit trying after my fantasy themed tenth birthday party. I never heard of a place called Nevernever though. I wonder what it had to do with fairies. "He always had a way about him."

"I remember," Mom said. "I just worry."

"How is she sleeping?" Aunt Karrin asked.

"The nightmares are few and far between," Dad said. "She doesn't even remember having them anymore." I grimaced sitting on the stairs and leaning against Mouse. I buried one of my hands in his fur and scratched him a bit. The nightmares were not some of the finer things of my dreams. I dream of ancient ruins, knives, and strange creatures that are warring with each other. My father told me that they were just images my mind creates, but something about them seemed so real.

"Those were a trial," Mom said.

"Butters can send Bob out and see if he can find out anything," Aunt Karrin said.

"And I can ask a couple of the locals at school if they can find out anything," Little Harry said.

"Harry," Dad said. "That is not necessary. I am sure we can handle it."

"Well I will check with Georgia and Will to see if they know anything," Little Harry said. I frowned. Why would Aunt G and Uncle Will know something about the man? "I am sure that they will know something. And I will see if I can get in touch with Mort too."

"Harry..."

"Mom, I need to do this," Little Harry said. I can imagine him grabbing one of my mother's hands and looking at her across the table. "It will be like I am part of something everyone else has experienced in this family and will remember it this time now that I am old enough."

"I think it is time for me to go," Aunt Karrin said as I heard what sounded like her getting out of her chair. I stood quickly and made plenty of noise as I walked the rest of the way down the stairs. I gave everyone a bright smile as I went into the kitchen.

"Mouse wanted a treat," I called out as I got into the cabinet and grab a few treats from the bag and rushed back out, making it a point not to look at them. Mouse was patiently waiting halfway up the stairs, and moved out of the way slightly to let me pass. I waited till he was in my room before I closed the door and sat on the end of my bed to give him treats. It used to be my mother's sewing room, but she said that I was a delightful surprise and gave it up to give Dad a break from building onto the house. When Hope left home to attend college, she just transformed that room into it since it was bigger and to not have the headache of moving all my stuff to the other side of the house.

My parents were obviously talking about the man that Jonathan saw the other day, but bringing Aunt Karrin and Little Harry into it was strange. Dad usually dealt with things like this without any help.

"It is probably nothing," I said out loud to Mouse. He gave me a doggy grin and pawed at my knee. I laughed and scratched him behind both of his ears before turning to settle in my bed. I glanced at the window to make sure it was locked and saw a bright blue light vanish out of the right bottom corner. I walked to the window and opened it, leaning out to look around. There was nothing but the occasional car passing by and a cat let out a yowl. "Probably the reflection of a passing car," I muttered to myself as I pushed myself back into my room and closed the window. After locking the window and closing the dark red curtains so I would not imagine anything else, I set my Mickey Mouse clock for early morning and burrowed under my covers. As I drifted off to sleep, I drowsily had the thought of what Uncle Waldo might have to do with someone named Bob.


	2. The Unexpected Stop

**Author's Note: I really need to finish one fan fiction before I start on another one. I finished this chapter and I felt it ended wrong but I could not find a really good way to do it and start the next chapter. I hope you enjoy**

Chapter Two: The Unexpected Stop

I woke up the next morning by throwing my clock across the room. I would rather have something like music for my alarm, but after the sixth radio shorted out my father got me the Mickey Mouse alarm clock. Molly shakes her head and smiles at it every time when she comes to visit me. Sometimes she even gets this far off look as she strokes it in her hands. I asked her once why she does that and she just gave me a shrug. My sister is one of those odd people who wander around as if she is in her own little dream world. Carlos told me that she is just more sensitive to the world around her than most. I wandered downstairs after throwing on a t-shirt and overalls. I grabbed a coke before going out to the shed with Mouse in tow. After checking my pocket watch that was a sweet sixteen present from Uncle Waldo, I set the egg timer for forty-five minutes. That gave me enough time to finish most of what I needed to get done before I added the embellishments that Carlos told me his grandmother approved of when I did a sketch of how I wanted to change the design a little bit. She was very impressed with it from what he told me. Mouse sat patiently at the door, occasionally leaving me alone to sniff around the backyard like usual. He always seemed to be looking for something. I worked steadily on the carving, making sure I kept in the lines of what I drew on the wood. I wanted to make sure that I had everything accurate.

"You always seem to wake before everyone else," Little Harry said, coming into the workshop. I sighed, looking up from behind my safety goggles at him. Apparently, he decided to stay overnight.

"Do you mind? I have very little time before school starts and I want to get this done," I told him before I went back to working on the carving.

"Carlos told me you excelled at carving designs, but he didn't tell me you could do something like this," Little Harry said as he looked over my shoulder. "This is very advanced."

"A child can carve along the lines," I muttered, carefully running the v-tool over one of the lines in the skulls.

"But this design is complicated," Little Harry said, running his fingers over one of the outside edges. The egg timer went off, sending Mouse bouncing off toward the house with several barks. I sighed, unplugged the wood burner, downed the rest of my coke, and took off my goggles.

"Anything else you want to talk about?" I asked, setting my goggles on the carving and looking up at him. I was tall, like everyone else in my family so I did not have to look up far. Little Harry smirked.

"Mom sent me out to get you," he told me. "She told me that you probably need to shower again before school."

"I didn't do any sanding today so I am pretty sure I can get away with a good hand washing and a change of clothing," I said as I walked out of the workshop.

"I should say so considering that is not St. Matthew's attire," Little Harry said, walking out of the workshop behind me before I shut and locked the door. "You are still going there right?"

"As long as Mom and Dad keep paying for it," I said. Mouse padded behind us as we headed into the house. I ran up the stairs while Mouse and Little Harry started on their breakfasts. I quickly grabbed my black skirt and blouse before heading into the bathroom and washing up. I pulled my hair into a ponytail after I put on my uniform and quickly brushed my teeth before running back downstairs.

"Still not allowed to wear make-up, huh?" Little Harry asked around his mouthful of eggs. He drank some orange juice and gave me a smile. "Hope was allowed make-up when she was fourteen."

"What?" I said, giving Mom a look when she walked in with a plate piled with food. "Mom, I am fifteen and you won't let me wear make-up but Hope got to wear make-up when she was fourteen?! How is that fair?" Mom set the plate at my usual seat at the table and gave Little Harry a glare before letting out a weary sigh.

"I am too tired for this right now," she told me as she walked back to the kitchen. "We can discuss this after school." I grumpily flopped down in my seat, irritated that Mom won't let me do anything. I was the baby of the family and got the short end of the stick all the time. It took large amounts of begging to get Mom and Dad to let me stay out late on Fridays to attend the football games this year, and Aunt Karrin had to step in on that one. She told them anyone stupid enough to mess with me would regret it the instant they tried something. Dad finally gave me the go ahead with the promise I would come home right after the game was over and made arrangements with Uncle Will to pick me up after the games so I wouldn't have to worry about it. It was actually kind of creepy how fast everything was done. I assumed it was a magical parent power that I would get when I was older because every one of my adult relatives seemed to function like that.

"Better eat quick if you want a ride to school," Dad said as he walked past me into the kitchen. I started eating on my pancakes, giving Mom a thank you noise when she set my cranberry juice in front of me. Dad sat down in his normal seat with his plate piled high with sausage and biscuits and gravy. He started to swallow it down, quickly devouring his breakfast before I was even done with half of mine. He sat back, taking slow sips of his cup of coffee as he looked at me in deep thought. I paused in mid-shovel, giving him a look.

"What?" I asked, putting the fork full of eggs in my mouth.

"Are you planning on attending the game tomorrow?" he asked me, his free hand drumming his fingertips against the table.

"Dad, I go to every home game," I replied. He nodded, now staring at the centerpiece that Mom made out of sticks and leaves from the backyard. My mind clicked in places before he could ask. "Dad, no. I am going."

"Are you sure you want to attend?" Dad asked me, putting his coffee cup to his lips and draining it before setting it on the table. "I am sure Karrin would like for you spend an evening with her little one demonstrating."

"I help her all the time," I said, taking half of what was left of my pancakes and shoving them in my mouth.

"Well your mother and I think-"

"Dad," I interrupted around my pancake filled mouth. "Seriously, I am going. It is going to be fine. No one is going to mess with me. If a dude with a duster and staff somehow make it past campus security, the football team is all Little Harry's friends. I am their honorary little sister. If someone so much as looks at me the wrong way I have at least three very large boys standing by to beat someone down."

"All right," Dad said, standing. "I will get my toolbox from the shed. You come on out front when you are finished with your breakfast." I shoved the rest of my eggs in my mouth and ran upstairs to grab my bag. As I ran back downstairs with my backpack on and sweater in one hand, I almost ran directly into Little Harry. He was standing with Mouse at the bottom of the steps. Both of them did not look happy.

"You will be careful today," Little Harry told me.

"I am always careful big brother," I replied in a sugary sweet tone as I gently pushed past him to kneel down and look Mouse in the eyes. I scratched behind his ears and put my forehead on his. "I promise to come home you big lummox." I stood up and brushed the fur off my clothes. Little Harry grabbed my arm.

"Don't stay out after dark," he said. "If you have to go out after dark, take Mouse."

"What is it with people thinking I cannot take care of myself?" I snapped and jerked my arm away from him. I stomped out the door, slamming it behind me before I continued stomping to the truck and climbing in it. Dad said nothing as he backed out of the driveway. About halfway to St. Matthews, he finally cleared his throat.

"I was once told by a wise man that McAnally was a great name," he said to me. "It is said the name was given to those who are a rock for those around them, to help them get through the hard times. If you ever run into problems, perhaps you can find yourself a McAnally to help."

"Do you have a McAnally, Dad?" I asked sarcastically. I was starting to get tired of people wanting me to be careful and getting advice about what I needed to do. Dad smirked, shaking his head.

"As a matter of fact, I do," he laughed softly. He got this far off look in his eyes, his smile growing. "I have many." I studied my father for a minute. He never talked about his life when he traveled for the church. Mom told me he used to return home will all sorts of injuries from the villages that he would try to teach the word of God. Maybe he was just trying to give me a peek into his world.

"How will I know who my McAnally is?" I asked him, adjusting my bag as the bell tower of St. Matthew's came into site.

"Sometimes you will stumble on it, and other times people might lead you the way," Dad said, giving me a smile before stopping the truck. "I will see you after school dear. Karrin said not to worry about practice today."

"Ummm okay," I said, hopping out. "Love you, Pops."

"I love you too, Mags," he said as I shut the door and ran the rest of the block to school. I did not like Dad to fight with the traffic in the front of the school. He was late to a job site once and almost lost the contract with the company. I decided when I turned eleven and attended the same school as Little Harry that I could walk the rest of the way. I ran up the steps and walked quickly through the halls to my locker. I stowed my sweater and the books I did not need for first period before heading to Mass.

Every morning at school we attended Mass before we learned. It was only a thirty minute service, nothing real and formal about it, and it was also the morning announcement time. I quickly sat in my normal spot in the pews, and brought out one of my books I was doing research in for my paper. I barely registered when someone sat down next to me.

"If you actually pulled your nose out of a book once in a while, you might actually get a date," I heard my best friend say. I turned my head slightly to look at Jessica, and almost did a double take. Her outfit was barely the uniform, and showed more skin than it covered. She let out an exasperated sigh as she pulled her compact out of her bag. "Sometimes I wonder if you are my mother with the looks you give me."  
"How did you get out of the house with that on?" I asked.

"Mom never notices what I wear anymore," she told me as she powdered her face. "Since she started to date that new man, I have basically become that urchin who stays in the house out of her good charity."

"I am sure someone will notice," I muttered as one of the teachers walked by.

"This is still in dress code," she said, snapping her compact shut and putting it back in her bag. "Now, let's try and see how long it takes for Nathan to notice." I sighed and put my book back in my bag, readying myself for the storm that was about to come.

"I still cannot believe that you made it through the school day without getting in trouble," I told Jessica as we walked down the steps of the school.

"I know right?" Jessica said as she rapidly texted away on her phone. "And can you believe that Nathan asked me out to the game tomorrow night?"

"I can," I sighed. Nathan could not keep his eyes off her legs the entire day. I could almost see his thoughts in his eyes, and they were not very G rated.

"I still can't believe you don't have a cell phone," she said, shoving her phone in her purse.

"I don't need one really," I replied, feeling the lie roll smoothly off my tongue. I would probably kill to have a cell phone, but after the second cheap flip phone my parents gave me shorted out this past summer it was decided that I would not be getting another.

"So, I bet your Dad was pretty excited to hear Jonathan dumped you," she said. "Did he tell you who that weird dude was that he sent after him?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I told her, gazing around the parking lot to try and find my father's truck. I hoped that she would leave it at that and wouldn't push further. I did not feel like coming up with more lies today.

"Hey, isn't that your brother-in-law?" Jessica squealed as she jumped up and down waving at someone. "Your sister is so lucky she landed such a stud." I looked in the direction she was waving and saw Carlos waving back at her in his shiny black truck.

"I will see you tomorrow," I said, giving her a quick hug and running over to the truck. I jumped into the truck and fastened my seat belt as Carlos started to slowly make his way out of the parking lot. "You keep showing up here looking like that and my sister might have to think about ways to compete with girls my age."

"No way they can compare to your sister," he chuckled.

"How is she taking the pregnancy?" I asked. Molly was not always in the best of moods, and her being pregnant made it ten times worse. I do not know how someone so laid back as Carlos puts up with her, but I guess what they say about opposites attracting is real.

"Your nephew is kicking more than she likes and keeping her up at night," he told me as he finally hit the main road and we started to coast along.

"So where is Dad?" I said, reaching in my bag and pulling out my emergency gum stash. I unwrapped and handed Carlos two pieces.

"There were some complications at the job site so he and your brother had to stay late to fix some things," he replied, nodding in thanks and putting the gum in his mouth. He gave me a sly smile and a sideways glance. "It is a damn shame too, because it seems to me that the direct route to your house seems to be jammed packed with cars. It will be quicker going the long route today. Goes right by the ice cream shop."

"Think we might have time to stop there on the way to pick up something?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Somehow I seem to have this overwhelming urge to pull over in said shop," he said. "I also need a peace offering to bring home to my loving wife. She was not very happy with me this morning before I left."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I am not discussing that with someone as young as you," he said, his face turning a slight shade of red. I giggled the rest of the way to the ice cream shop, picking at him and making him blush further the entire way like the good little sister I am. When we reached the shop, Carlos gave me one of his famous grins. "Do you know what flavor you want today?"

"I will have to see what they have out," I replied as I unbuckled my seat belt. "Can we get some for Mom?"

"I would never dream about coming here without getting Charity her double fudge mint," Carlos said. "I am still hurting from the last time."

"I think everyone hurts like that from Mom once in a while," I laughed as we walked in the door of the ice cream shop. What happened next changed my life forever.

My mother skidded the van in the ice cream shop parking lot. The police officers taking our statements almost dropped their notebooks, but it didn't faze me. Mom was like this when something happened to one of us. Carlos however, he prudently stepped behind the cop car, putting the car and about four police officers between him and Mom. She ran over to me, grabbing me and pulling me into a hug.

"Maggie! Are you all right?" she said, checking me up and down.

"I'm fine, Mom," I sighed.

"What happened?" my mother demanded of the two police officers.

"Well Ma'am, here is what we are getting from eyewitnesses," one of them said. The told her that a man tried to hold up the ice cream shop. A brave patron slammed a chair over the man's head giving Carlos enough time to disarm the man and restrain him till the cops got there. At least, that was the story we were telling them.

_"Now give me the money in the register and no one will get hurt," the man with a stocking cap on his head demanded of the young man behind the counter, keeping a gun pointed at the employee. The young man shook as he tried to fit the key in the register._

_ "Stay behind me, Maggie," Carlos said, stepping in front of me. We were barely in the doorway. There were several families in the shop, one small child kept wailing as its mother kept trying to shush it. I could barely see through Carlos. He was built and just a couple inches taller than me. I peeked around to witness the man with the cap slam his fist down on the counter._

_ "Hurry up you moron," he roared, causing the child who was wailing to get louder. The young man started to make more distressed noises and finally fit the key in the register. He quickly dumped the money on the counter. The man in the cap's posture grew rigid. "This all?"_

_ "We made a drop just before the shift change," the young man said, his voice shaking._

_ "Well get me that money," the man in the cap said. _

_ "I can't get into the safe sir," the young man said. "Only the manager can get in the safe."_

_ "I suggest you find a way to get into the safe boy," the man in the cap said, the gun in his hand moving away from the young man and more towards some of the families. "I would hate for an accident to happen to one of these fine people in here because you could not do something as simple as opening-" The rest of his sentence was cut off by a chair flying across the room and hitting him. The man in the cap was knocked to the ground as the chair kept hitting him, still floating in the air without anyone holding onto it but acting like someone was swinging it down on top of the man. It kept hitting him over and over. I felt this energy rushing through me as I watched it hit the man over and over again, feeling the energy pulse with every contact the chair made on him. I was so enthralled with watching it and feeling this power rush through me that I barely registered Carlos shaking me._

_ "Maggie!" Carlos sounded so far away. Finally, his shaking me made me look at him. His voice was muffled, eventually growing louder with each of the words he spoke. "Maggie! That is enough stop! He is down just stop!" I heard the chair drop as I collapsed in the floor, my entire body shaking. All the noises in the room came rushing back to me as I sat in the ice cream parlor floor. I drew my knees to my chest as I shook violently, not really sure what just happened._

_ "I made the chair hit that man," I said softly to myself. _

_ "Maggie," Carlos said as he kneeled down in front of me. "Maggie I know it is hard right now but I need to you focus on me."_

_ "I made that chair hit that man," I repeated to Carlos tearfully._

_ "Maggie, I know this is confusing to you right now but you have to pay attention to what I am telling you," Carlos said. _

_ "But I hurt that man!" I screeched. Carlos grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me hard. Tears flowed down my cheeks he pulled me into his arms, rocking me as he rubbed my back while I sobbed into his chest. "What am I?"_

_ "Maggie," he said softly as he pushed me back slightly. I heard the sound of cop cars coming. "We can talk about this later."_

_ "What do we do?" I whispered, panic filling me as I saw the red and blue lights flash on the ice cream shop walls._

_ "Someone threw the chair," Carlos told me slowly. "Someone threw the chair at him and it caused him to fall because it caught him off guard." I nodded, taking deep breaths. He kisses my forehead and rushed over to check one of the families sitting close to us, as police officers burst in the shop._

"We are just lucky that no one was hurt," one of the officers said. Mom pulled me into her arms and hugged me tight, sending Carlos a glare. A couple of the cops coughed and one of them moved away from my mother slightly.

"Get in the van, Maggie," she said, pushing me toward the van, not taking her eyes off Carlos. "Carlos will be joining us with his wife for dinner." Carlos nodded as I walked over to the van without protest. Mom is really scary when one of us was in some sort of danger. The whole ride home was spent in silence, my mother occasionally letting out a hissing noise from behind the driver seat. The van pulled in beside Scarab, my sisters beaten up red Beatle, and we got out just as Carlos pulled up in his truck. Mom walked over to the door and yelled into the house. Carlos and I were walking up to the door when my sister came out and stood next to Mom. Her belly was huge and she was only seven months along, but other than that Molly and Mom were standing side by side, giving Carlos the same look. It was actually kind of scary.

"Um, Maggie, I think you need to go in the house," Carlos told me. I inched past my mother and Molly, careful not to touch them or draw attention to myself. As soon as I was inside I quickly ran upstairs just as I heard Molly let Carlos have it. I hated to leave him like that, but he was better at handling the two of them than the rest of us. I like to think it was his Latin charm. I sat on the bed and Mouse padded into my room. He sat his head on my lap, looking up at me with his large dark eyes. I sighed and rubbed his ears.

"I know. Being up here is better than down there with them," I said. He sneezed. I laughed and ruffled his fur before lying down to nap before dinner.


	3. A Dinner of Discovery

**Author's Note: I promise this is the third chapter this time. Last time I was in a hurr****y to leave for work and uploaded the wrong one. I will try not to do that in the future I promise. As I said I really need to not work on another fan fiction while in the middle of another one. I apologize profusely for that. I do hope you enjoy the third chapter of my little adventure.**

**Chapter Three: A Dinner of Discovery**

I woke to Mouse barking. I sat up and rubbed my eyes before looking at the clock. I let out a laugh as I stood up. He always knew when it was dinner time. He pawed at the door and let out a whine, laying his ears back while looking up at me with sad puppy dog eyes. "Those never work on me," I told him as I opened the door. He immediately bolted out of my room. My face scrunched up in confusion. Mouse rarely acted like that. He usually only reacted like that around…

I quickly dashed down the hall with a grin plastered on my face. There was only one person who made Mouse react like that besides me. I skidded to a stop at the top of the stairs and let out a whoop. Matthew was at the bottom of the stairs, kneeling down so he could rub Mouse's exposed belly. Mouse's face was the picture of doggy contentment, complete with tongue hanging out and eyes closed. I ran down the steps and Matthew stood up just in time to catch me as I threw myself at him. He wrapped his arms around me to give me probably the best bear hug ever. Daniel and Little Harry were all right, but Matthew was always my favorite. He always had time for me. He was the one who read me my favorite stories over and over, listen to my little childhood problems, and took me everywhere like I wasn't a complete nuisance. He wasn't in town as much anymore since he started to travel more for the church, but every chance he got he came home to visit me. He set me down and I looked him over.

"Don't start. Mom already gave me the third degree," he told me. He held his arm out so Mouse could investigate Matthew's sweater pocket. Mouse let out a happy huff as he walked away with a couple of rawhide chews into the dining room.

"I thought you weren't going to be home for another couple of weeks," I said, giving him a smack on the arm. "Father Forthill told me that you were going to be in Japan till after Halloween."

"There was a spot open to get home sooner, so I took it," he told me, reaching in his other sweater pocket and pulling out something wrapped in a piece of red and gold cloth. I squealed in glee as I snatched it out of his hand. I quickly undid the cloth, and was puzzled by the bundle of ornate sticks. I held them up, giving him a puzzled look. "Chopsticks?"

"Turn around," Matthew told me, giving me an indulgent smile as he took two of the sticks from the bundle. I turned around and looked through the rest of the bundle as he twisted my hair. They were very pretty. I felt him stick something in my hair before he let go of my hair. "All right, go look." I glanced back at him before heading over to the hallway mirror. What I saw was amazing.

"These are hair pins!" I said, turning my head this way and that to inspect my hair style.

"You will have to get someone to help you learn how to do more styles," he chuckled. I gave him another hug as I jumped up and down. He patted my back and stepped back, breaking what I am sure was a chokehold on his body. "Why don't you go show Mom?"

"Good idea!" I said. I dashed to the kitchen, hopping over Mouse, and stopping just short of slamming into my sister, Alicia.

"I wish you would stop acting like a child," she huffed.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. Alicia was one of those smarty know it all children. She was in medical school when she was supposed to be a senior in high school. She always seemed to have this stick up her ass about something, especially when it comes to me.

"Mom asked me to come over and since I had a night off in my residency for once, I decided to take her up on her offer," she replied with a smug smirk. I rolled my eyes as I moved around her and walked over to Mom.

"Hey Mom! Look what Matthew brought home to me," I said, holding up the bundle of hair pins in one hand and pointing to the hair with the other.

"That is great dear," Mom said, not looking up from the pot she was stirring. "Can you help Alicia take the rest of the dishes in to set the table?" I drooped, turning around just to see Alicia giving me a self-satisfied smile before flouncing out of the room. Then I heard a loud thud followed by a shout and crash of several utensils hitting the floor. Mouse padded into the kitchen and leaned against me, giving me a woeful look. I tucked the hair pins in my pocket and gave him a pat on the head.

"Good dog," I murmured just low enough for Mom to snort and shake her head. Alicia walked back in the room, her face set in a grim mask. I stuck my tongue out at her as I picked up a stack of glasses and plastic plates.

"I don't understand why you let that stupid dog in the house," I heard Alicia say as I walked out with Mouse trailing behind me. She has always hated Mouse. I cannot remember anything that Mouse might have done to upset her, but she always had something snarky to say about him. I set the stack of plates and cups on the table to kneel down in front of Mouse. My hands rubbed behind his ears as I put my forehead to his.

"She just doesn't know what he is missing buddy," I told him softly. He whined a bit before licking my face and lying down in front of me. I was still petting him when Daniel, Carlos, and Dad came in the back door.

"You are supposed to be setting the table," Daniel said as he picked up the stack of plates while Alicia came in and started to put out the silverware. Dad sat at the end of the table, groaning with the chair as he sat down.

"She is too busy with that dumb animal to worry about doing something useful," Alicia said. I glared at her back, feeling myself fill with some sort of humming energy right before a fork flew at her back. Carlos smacked it just before it hit her back, the offending object thudding as it hit the carpet. Alicia looked back, her eyes narrowing at it in confusing before kneeling down to pick it up. "Huh. It must have slipped from my fingers." She set it back on the table where it came from before continuing to set the rest of the silverware. I looked between Carlos and Dad, both of them acting like nothing happened and talking about something at the job site. My body shook as I stood and grabbed the cups. I set each one out, fumbling one of the cups and sending it across the table. Daniel caught it in one smooth motion and set it down on the table.

"How was school today?" Dad asked as I sat next to him.

"Dad, what is-" Dad put a finger to his lips and pointed to the back door. I nodded in understanding. It was our code for "Shop Talk" as Dad called it. When there was something I didn't want Mom or anyone else to hear, we talked about it in the workshop while we worked on a project. "It was okay. Jessica once again pushed the dress code boundaries and got a date for tomorrow with Nathan."

"I thought he had better taste than that," Little Harry said, sauntering in from the living room in front of Matthew and sat down on the other side of Dad. Matthew sat next to me, rubbing my back as he sat down.

"He was distracted by hormones man," Daniel said as he sat next to Mom's seat. Molly waddled in the dining room, breathing hard from what I am sure was the brief walk from her old room. She sighed as she got halfway in the room before turning around and walking right back out. Carlos chuckled as he sat across from Daniel.

"She told me today she feels like her bladder is the size of a pea," he told us. Alicia and Mom walked in the room with a couple bowls a piece. Both of them sat down, and we waited till Molly came back before praying. As we passed out the food, Alicia sighed.

"So, what has Maggie done this time?" she commented.

"Nothing," Mom replied, putting some salad on her plate.

"We never have dinners like this unless Maggie has done something," Alicia snapped, putting some garlic bread on her plate. "At least dinners I am invited to attend."

"Alicia now is not the time for this," Dad told her. I put some pasta on my plate and tried to not look up as the inevitable fight began.

"What? I am just saying," she said, but it didn't stop there. "She always seems to do something to warrant everyone coming to dinner. Usually these family meetings are attended by Hope or Amanda, but somehow I was pulled into this. So, what has the golden child done now?"

"Alicia Marie Theresa Carpenter!" Mom shouted, slamming her hand on the table and making everyone jump. "Your sister has done nothing. I just felt like having family around."

"Because Maggie just happened to be in the middle of a robbery that I somehow stumbled upon and it made her nervous about all her children," Carlos said calmly, his smile looking so sweet it might as well have been in neon letters above his head saying "Kiss my ass". Alicia made a face at him as she piled pasta on her plate. "So, your sister did do absolutely nothing."

"Who are we playing tomorrow night, Maggie?" Little Harry asked before shoving a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth.

"I think it is Chicago Academy South," I said softly, taking a bit of my garlic bread.

"I might come to the game with you tomorrow," he said off-handedly. My head snapped up and I opened my mouth to snap at him when Dad spoke up.

"That would be a great idea," he said.

"I could even bring Mouse with me," Little Harry said, giving me a smile. I grumbled, stabbing at my pasta. I always try to get Mouse past the gates, and Little Harry knew it. They said I had to have a special pass for him. Little Harry could get him in just because he was the best Left Tackle that St. Matthew's had in years. That and I am pretty sure he just doesn't care what the teachers say. I looked down at Mouse and he seemed to be giving me a pleading look.

"I guess I can't stop you," I said. Mouse let out a happy woof and stuck his head in my lap, wiggling it against my stomach. I laughed and dropped my fork to pet him. "Can you try to come too, Matthew?"

"I will if I don't have business with the church," he said, reaching over to get another piece of garlic bread from the basket.

"Ug, this baby is killing me," Molly moaned as she struggled to stand. She swatted at Carlos who stood to help her. "I am fine! Geez quit trying to help me with everything." She was still muttering as she walked out of the dining room, holding her belly like it was going to drop any minute. He watched her leave, a silly grin plastered on his face.

"Oh God! Would you quit looking at her like that?" Alicia said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Your father use to look at me the same way when I was pregnant," Mom said, giving Alicia smile.

"I cannot hear this," Alicia said, pushing her plate away and standing. "I am going back to my apartment. I will see you later." She gave Dad a kiss and waved to Mom before heading out the back door. I stood to take her plate to the kitchen, but Dad grabbed my wrist.

"If you are done eating, I think everyone else can handle this," he said, nodding to the back door Alicia just went out and left wide open. I nodded, picking up my glass of water and taking it with me. As soon as we were both in the workshop and Dad closed the doors, I let him have it.

"We are not going to pretend that something isn't going on," I said, folding my arms across my chest. "There is something going on with me. I am making things do things. I don't know how and I don't know why, but I am. Why is everyone acting like this?"

"I have a project I need your help with," Dad said, bringing out what looked like a quarterstaff. He set it in my hand.

"Dad, I don't think this is the time-"

"Just start carving Maggie," he told me softly. He walked over to my project and opened my tool kit. "Just do what comes naturally." I sat down at my table with a huff, and really looked at the quarterstaff. The design on it that Dad started was actually quite sophisticated. The intricacy and detail showed that he worked on this for many hours. I picked up one of my tools and started to carve on it.

"What makes you think that you are doing these things?" Dad asked, dragging a stool over and sitting beside me as I worked. I just gave him a shrug as I connected a couple of lines together. "I cannot help you if you don't tell me."

"I felt this…this rush of power," I said, picking up another tool and starting to make decorative holes along some of the lines. "Every time that the chair hit that man today, I felt this power pulsing inside of me. That fork that flew at Alicia? There was a humming power in me. It just felt like…I feel like I am doing it and something inside of me is doing it."

"Have any other incidents like this happened to you before?" Dad asked.

"Not that I can remember," I replied, picking up another tool and starting to carve more designs at the top where there was nothing started. "I mean, I sometimes feel weird when we are in class and books drop off desks or papers sometimes seem to fly out of teachers' hands. That is nothing compared to this though."

"I see," Dad said. I looked up from the quarterstaff, and studied my dad. It suddenly dawned on me that he wasn't shocked in the least or even confused about anything that was happening.

"Why were you or the others in the room not shocked that a fork flew at Alicia?" I asked, setting down the tool in my hand.

"We were shocked," Dad said. "We just didn't want to alarm Alicia."

"No," I said, standing up and stepping away from my work table, never taking my eyes of my father. "Carlos wasn't even shocked about the chair beating on that man without anyone holding it. He even told to stop, that the man was down!" Dad just sat there, looking at me. I picked up the nearest tool and threw it across the shop. It turned out to be a screwdriver. It imbedded right in the door. My eyebrows rose up and I looked at Dad, who just shook his head with a smile. Carlos chose that moment to open the doors to the shop. He looked at the screwdriver for a moment and then gave me a grin.

"Murphy been teaching you to throw knives, hasn't she?" he asked.

"Only a little," I replied sheepishly. I rarely lost my temper enough to do something like that. Carlos pulled the screwdriver out of the door and set it on one of the nearby benches.

"The conversation not going so well?" Carlos asked Dad. Dad shook his head once. Carlos sighed. "I told you to let me handle this."

"What is going on?" Molly said, waddling into the workshop and plopping down on my vacated stool.

"We were discussing the events of the day," Dad told her.

"I was talking. Dad was sitting there like a bump on the log," I told Molly.

"Well, what am I supposed to say Maggie?" he asked me as he stood and went to lean on his work bench opposite of the door. "I cannot tell you what happened today, nor can I explain it. However, Carlos and Molly can."

"What?" I said, looking from Dad to Carlos and Molly. "They know what is going on with me?"

"We know because we went through the same thing," Carlos said.

"Well mine was a bit more of a spectacle than Carlos," Molly snorted. "I was almost executed for what I did."

"What were you almost executed for?" I screeched in alarm. Carlos made shushing noises and looked out of workshop doors. He grabbed them, pulling them shut and locking them before turning back to me.

"You sister has a…special gift," Carlos said, running his hand through his hair. "My gift was more physical, like yours."

"Gift?" I said, looking at Dad. "What do they mean gift?"

"They are talking about magic, Maggie," Dad told me.

"Magic? Like I am pulling a rabbit out of my hat magic?" I said, looking back and forth at everyone. Molly snorted.

"Not quite, but that is a good way of thinking about it in the beginning," Molly laughed, placing a hand over her huge belly. "Those are quite the tricks to pull though in front of huge crowds. A lot of minds to fool with that illusion."

"Molly," Carlos said in a soft tone, something so different than I have ever heard him use before with her. He turned to face me, his eyes full of something…something so strange. It was something akin to a mix of determination and sadness with some anger thrown in. "You possess magic, Maggie. You have been showing signs of it for quite some time. It has just not been as obvious as you might think."

"Signs? You mean the fork flying and everything?" I asked, panic rising in me as I felt something pushing against my mind, something fighting to break free.

"Have you ever wondered why electronics always mess up around you?" Carlos said to me. "Or why things seem to just happen around you? Or how you got so good at carving intricate designs after just a few times of being shown what to do?"

"No," I protested, my voice coming out in a hoarse whisper. My mind suddenly let things rush at me. Memories of my sister's toys breaking without anyone touching them. A large truck veering off course in such a radical direction change to miss a child playing in the street that there was no way it was the driver making the turn. Mom standing there and holding her hand to her heart and staring at a knife embedded in the wall. I turned to Dad, my hands clenched in fists at my sides. "This isn't the first time this has happened, has it Dad?"

"No, Maggie. It isn't," he said softly. I saw more things rushing at me. Mouse standing in front of me as something dripping some sort of goo out of its mouth while Uncle Sanya charged at it. Uncle Waldo talking to his stupid skull but it had glowing eyes and talked back. Uncle Will turning into a wolf…

"What is going on?" I screamed, looking at Carlos. "I don't understand any of this! What…what am I supposed to do?"

"What do you want to do?" he asked me calmly.

"I don't…I don't know," I yelled at him, putting my hands to my head as I tried to sort through everything rushing at me. I turned to Molly. "What do-hey. Where is Molly?" I barely got the words out of my mouth before I felt someone grabbing both sides of my head from behind me. The world turned fuzzy, my knees getting weak. As my world turned black, the last thing I saw was a man with a glowing staff, looking at me and telling me that everything was all right, that he was there to save me.

* * *

"Maggie," I heard Matthew say as I felt someone shaking me. I lifted my head from my arms, blinking my eyes groggily at the clock on the wall in front of my work table.

"Did I fall asleep working on my project?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to try and clear my vision.

"Mom sent me out to get you," Matthew told me. "She said you had been out here working off your temper long enough."

"Okay," I yawned, stretching and looking at my project. I crinkled my nose, trying to see any differences and not finding any. I shrugged, putting away my tools. I probably deepened lines or something. I must have been really out of it if I could not remember what I did on the carving. I honestly did not even remember coming out to work on my project. I shrugged and headed out of the workshop. "You coming to the game tomorrow?"

"Well, I would not miss seeing Mouse with the cheerleaders for the world," he chuckled. I waited till he was out of the workshop before shutting the door and locking it. We walked back toward the house and I threw up my hands. Sitting in the back yard were five cardboard boxes from Pizza Express.

"Can't they throw their trash in someone else's yard?" I huffed before leaning over to pick up the boxes. Once a month or so I would find a ton of these boxes in the backyard. Matthew picked up a couple and took the ones from my hand. "The pizza isn't even all that great."

"Go on upstairs and get ready for bed," he told me. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and bolted past everyone sitting at the table to shower. When I was through, Mouse was sitting outside the bathroom door. He was holding a huge bone in his mouth.

"Looks like someone is spoiling you rotten," I laughed, patting him on the head as I walked to my room. I set the alarm clock before lying on my bed. I stared at the ceiling and thought about the game tomorrow. Jessica had a date with Nathan, which I am sure will end badly since he probably only thought about one thing when he saw her outfit this morning. Little Harry and Matthew would be there so I would probably have to sit with them, especially since Mom was probably still upset about…

I couldn't quite grasp what Mom would be upset about. Nothing happened today, but I was pretty sure Mom was upset about something. I got up off the bed, and looked out the window to the street below. Leaves were blowing on the street and lawns, the occasional car passing by the house as I tried to think of what could have happened to get Mom in one of her moods. Mouse butted me with his head behind my knees, causing me to grab onto the window sill to steady myself.

"All right I will go to bed now," I said, scratching him behind the ears and not thinking about Mom anymore. It was probably nothing. Alicia probably got her riled up over something she said today when she was over for dinner. I stopped in the middle of pulling my covers back. I looked at Mouse, giving him a confused look. "Alicia was here for dinner…wasn't she?" Mouse pawed at my bed, giving me one of his famous doggy grins. I sighed, shaking my head as I crawled under the covers. I don't know why I talk to him. It is not like he understands me anyway.


	4. The Change in the Game

**Author's Note: This chapter is massive. I am sorry. I could not help it. There was no way I could break it up without it being clunky. That and I edited it so much that I didn't realize I kept adding more and more. I may or may not have another chapter up anytime soon since my wedding is Saturday, but you never know what might happen.**

**Thanks to my reviewers by the way I meant to thank you before. Hope you like it and sorry for anything confusing in it.  
**

**Chapter Four: The Change in the Game  
**

I bolted up in bed at the sound of my alarm clock. I skipped throwing it across the room this morning. I just did not feel good. My head felt like it was full of cotton. I tossed and turned most of the night, and just did not feel like doing anything extra. I gave Mouse a quick pat on the head before I dug into my closet for one of my uniforms. We usually had the chance to wear something casual on a Friday, but I did not feel like searching my closet for something nerdy enough for people to leave me alone. Jessica was the only person I could stand at my school. She and I have been together since Sunday School when we were nine. Her mom was never really all there and only came to church to meet men. I pretty much took her under my wing and we both just kind of there. The popular kids never talked to us and the unpopular kids really did not want to be around us either. It is like we are the outcasts of the outcast.

After I attached the anklet my sister keeps adding charms to every year or so and pulled my sock over it, I grabbed my bag and went down the hall. School policy states no excessive jewelry, and Sister Anne deemed my anklet so last year. I took the stairs, jumping down them with two feet on each step to make as much noise as possible. Matthew peeked out of the dining room as I hit halfway down. He shook his head at me as he watched me go the rest of the way down. "No one else is here."

"Aw," I said, giving him a playful pout of my lip. "That means I didn't wake anyone else up."

"Well, if it helps Mom hates that sound," he said as Mouse came up to him and leaned on Matthew's legs. "However, I will admit I wish that our darling siblings were home to be awakened to that. I did so miss Little Harry yelling that you needed to not be a morning person."

"And I don't even need coffee," I giggled, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"Well, Mom made muffins and left out some orange juice for you to drink before I took you to school," he told me with a smile.

"YES!" I shouted as I fist pumped the air. I ran into the dining room, grabbed a muffin while downing the glass of orange juice in front of my normal place, and gave Dad a kiss on the cheek before dashing back out to Matthew. "I'm ready."

"Grab your helmet before Mom realizes Dad isn't taking you," he told me. I kissed Mouse on top of the head as I went to the hall closet and dug through the mountain of shoes to get my shiny black with bright green lines helmet. I ran out the door and let it slam shut before jumping on the back of Matthew's motorcycle. I do not know anything about motorcycles except they are really really fast and me riding on them makes my mother really really mad. Hence why my family did not like me dating Jonathan.

They could not, however, keep me from hanging out with my own brother.

Mom came running out of the house a few seconds after Matthew started his bike. Matthew was out of the driveway and going down the road before Mom even reached where he parked his bike. He and I both laughed as we sped down the road, not a care in the world. He took the extremely long way to my school, weaving on every long detour and extra road he could. I held onto his waist, my head resting on his back as I watched the world pass me by. We turned down the road to pass my favorite ice cream shop and I was shocked to see police crime scene tape all over the parking lot. I pondered over what could have happened till we drove up to the front of the school. I hopped off the bike and Matthew flipped up his face guard. "Have a good day. Gimme your helmet so you don't have to carry it all day."

"Matthew," I yelled over the bike engine, handing over my helmet, "what happened at the ice cream shop?" Matthew looked at me a minute, setting my helmet on the back of his bike. He locked the helmet on with some special snaps and shook his head.

"It was robbed last night Maggie," he yelled.

"Oh wow," I yelled back, not caring that people were looking at me and pointing. "Did they get the guy?"

"Yea," Matthew yelled. "Someone will be by to pick you up after school Maggie. I have to run some errands before the game tonight." He gave me a salute before flipping down his face mask and roaring off. I watched him disappear around the corner before I walked into the school. Today felt like a lazy day.

"Hey Mags," I heard someone say as I shoved one of my books in my locker. I turned my head and tried not to wince. The head cheerleader, Amy, and her followers were heading my way. They always tried to get me to help them out with some homework, and by help I mean do it for them. Amy stopped an arms length from me, a grin plastered on her face. "Is it true that you were in the ice cream store when the robbery went down yesterday?"

"Excuse me?" I replied, shutting my locker.

"Maria's sister was there with their mother yesterday," Amy said, jerking a thumb at one of her entourage. "Her sister said that your sister's husband and you were there. She said your brother-in-law tackled someone after you threw a chair at them."

"I'm sorry. I don't follow," I told her, adjusting my strap on my bag.

"Seriously," one of her group said. "Everyone is talking about it."

"She's just being modest," Jessica said as she came up beside me and grabbed my arm, giving it a squeeze. "Maggie has always been like that."

"Oh my God!" Amy squealed as she grabbed my arm and pulled me to her. We walked down the hall as she chattered. "That is so cool. Were you scared? Did you feel like you were going to throw up?"

"Ummm…"

"Of course you were," she said with a grin. She waved at someone that shouted her name as we passed. "You know, we always thought you were a little strange. All the Carpenter kids have been, not counting Little Harry. When you came in last year, we thought maybe you would be cool like him too. You stuck to yourself, didn't make waves, and I figured, hey, maybe she will come into her own. You finally did and boy did you do it well."

"Okay?" I said as we walked into Mass.

"You and your…friend can sit with us today. And we have most of our classes together right?" Amy asked as she guided me down the aisle.

"Everything but cheerleading," I heard Jessica pipe up from behind me. I was shoved into a pew, and everyone sat down, Jessica a few people down from me and Amy was next to me.

"Well, we can fix that next year," Amy simpered as she patted my knee. "If you aren't good at cheerleading, well, I am sure we can find something for you to do to give you a leg up in the popularity structure."

"Ummm," I said, trying to come up with the words to ask her the questions that were racing in my mind. I was thankfully saved by Father Anderson coming to the podium and starting the morning prayer.

The rest of the day was kind of…surreal. I always use to watch Little Harry in these groups, talking with them and laughing with them. I even remember some of the people who use to ignore me coming over on the weekends and after school to hang out. I was just "the sister" to them. Now, I was considered cool. Amy and I walked to all our classes together. She even sat with me at lunch. Jessica was almost having kittens she was so excited.

"I cannot believe that we are in their radar now," she told me as we were waiting for our teacher to come in for our last class of the day, Medieval History. "I have been waiting for this forever."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, actually slightly hurt that she was excited that Amy was acknowledging us. I liked the way things were before this whole thing started.

"Because I knew you would just look at me and say 'Jessica, popularity is just a stupid thing kids in high school want to make them feel important. We are already important. Why do we need other people to verify that when we know it ourselves.' Hey, don't look at me like that!" she said as I crinkled my nose at her words, mostly because I knew that it was true. I never really felt the need to have people around me to keep telling me how awesome I am. I just knew I was awesome. "I get to go to their parties now, I can start eating with them in lunch, and hell, I can probably hang out with them after school too!" I absorbed all of her words, not sure if she was happy for me or if she was excited that she might get to go to some of the more high class parties in our school. Sister Catherine came in and rapped her ruler on her desk causing everyone to go silent. The first day that she came in and did that, I almost died laughing. She was one of those nuns who got a kick out of being the old stereotypical nuns everyone was use to seeing.

"We are picking up where we left off yesterday," she said just as someone knocked on the door. Amy bounced in and handed Sister Catherine a slip of paper. Sister Catherine raised her eyebrows and looked at me. "It seems, Miss Carpenter, that Miss Angel needs you to help with some decorations this afternoon for the football game. You are excused to do so." Jessica gave me a pleading look as I got up, and I gave her a look that basically said _What am I supposed to do? _before following Amy out of the classroom.

"Did Miss Angel really need me to help with the decoration for this afternoon?" I asked Amy as she basically danced in front of me down the hall.

"We all got to pick a buddy to help out, so I went to get you," she said, giving me a grin.

"Couldn't someone have gotten Jess too?" I asked.

"Everyone else had someone," she told me plaintively. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the doors that lead to the football field. "Come on! We have a couple things we need to finish before we can start the real fun."

"Real fun?" I asked, breaking her hold on me and planting me feet just before we walked out the door. "What fun, Amy?" Amy turned to me and gave me a curious look.

"We are going to decorate the quarterback's car and a couple of other first string players," she told me, before her eyes grew wide. "Oh God, no. No no no. We would never do things like that." I nodded and followed her out to the football field. There were posters and several huge things of paper hanging up on the fence surrounding the football stadium. There were cheerleaders along with a couple of football players that were on the injured list. Amy handed me a can of spray paint and guided me over to one of the blank walls of paper.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked.

"Just…I don't know…oh! Spray 'Go Team Go' on it! No one has started that one yet! I have to…go over here," she said, skipping backwards a couple of step before turning and heading towards the bleachers where a bunch of guys were sitting. I shook the can and started to spray it in even strokes. Oddly enough, Matthew taught me how to spray paint so it would not drip down the paper. I teased him about how he must have been an awesome football sign maker, but he gave me an odd grin and shrugged before walking off.

"Your Little Harry's sister, right?" I heard a male voice asked. I stopped spraying, and turned to the voice. I blinked a couple times to make sure I was seeing right. The guy looked like a male model. His hair was a dirty blonde in a shaggy style that slightly extended over his chocolate brown eyes. He wore a St. Matthew's soccer t-shirt with some khaki pants and had on some of the best sneakers I have ever seen. I nodded. "I thought that was you. It is about time you decided to join the Legacy ranks."

"I'm sorry?" I asked. He grabbed one of the many cans of spray paint off the ground and started to paint a football on one of the corners of the sign.

"Almost everyone out here had a brother, sister, or parent on one of the sports teams," he told me. "Amy's mother was head cheerleader, my brothers were all on one team or another, and Maria's sister was the star on her Lacrosse team a few years back. I figured it was only a matter of time before you got pulled into the group."

"Oh," I said.

"So, how did Amy get you out here?" he asked.

"She got a note from Miss Angel to get me out of Medieval History," I told him.

"Ah. Sister Catherine. No wonder you were allowed to come without 24 hour notice," he chuckled as he stepped back to admire his handy work. It actually was not all that bad. At least it did not drip or look like some sort of deformed egg like the others. "Well, my name is Anthony Hill. Amy just wanted me to come over and make sure you were not left out of the loop. She figured that you would not get many people to talk to you at first since you were…ya know."

"No, I don't," I said, starting to spray paint the paper again. Anthony grabbed my hand and gave me a look.

"Maggie, everyone knows you are, well, you know," he said. I took a look at his face and felt my eyebrows crinkle in concentration. "Maggie…you are, well you're a lesbian."

"What?!" I screamed in horror, dropping my spray can. Anthony shushed me, looking around before pulling me aside not quite hidden behind the pillars but still giving us some measure of privacy. I shook in anger as my voice came out in a loud whisper. "What in gorram fracking hell did you call me?"

"Did you…did you just curse in sci-fi?" he asked, his eyebrows rising in interest.

"Yes, but that doesn't matter," I said waving my hands in a dismissive way I have seen my sister do tons of times. "What in the bloody hell made you think I was a lesbian?"

"Well all just thought, well you were always with Jessica," he said, running his hands through his hair. "Hell Maggie, you were always so dismissive about guys hitting on you we just though you and Jessica were an open couple and you just preferred girls."

"Guys hit on me?" I asked, blinking at him like a cat.

"You are really that oblivious?" he smirked, shaking his head. "Maggie, almost every guy on Little Harry's team has tried to get you on a date."

"No, they always asked to grab a burger and study together for a test or to go to some of the other sports games, but I figured they were just being nice since I was his sister," I told him. "I mean, seriously, who would want to ask me out?"

"Maggie, you really are deficient when it comes to guys," Amy said, coming towards us. "Anthony was going to ask you out if you confirmed you weren't a lesbian last year, but no one could get your attention or get any messages to you. I figured you weren't since, you know, you don't sleep with Jessica."

"What does Jessica have to do with it?" I asked, looking from the two of them. They gave each other a knowing look before Anthony looked at me.

"Jessica, well Jessica is a bit more…well a bit more…" Anthony tipped his head back as if looking for a word he could not find.

"She is a slut, Maggie," Amy said. I opened my mouth in protest but she continued to talk. "She will sleep with anything that moves and looks remotely interested in her, girl or boy. She is known to try to hook up with everyone at parties she goes to, and has a tendency to kind of keep you all to herself. Jessica pretty much blocked every chance we had to get to know you. Remember that party I had when I turned thirteen and Jessica said you guys weren't coming?"

"I was not invited to that party," I said. Amy sighed and shook her head.

"Maggie, I couldn't find you, so I gave Jessica your invitation," she told me. "When you didn't show up I figured that you were not interested, but Little Harry asked my brother Gus why I did not want you at my party."

"Then last year, when all you did was hang out with her, and most of the guys were trying to get in your good graces, we asked her what kind of guys you were into," Anthony said. "She just told us 'Maggie isn't interested in guys' before walking away to her next class." It was hard for me to swallow, let alone breath.

"But didn't any of you hear that I dated Jonathan?" I asked. "I thought it was common knowledge that I was seeing him." Amy blinked, her face showing genuine shock.

"You…oh God," she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth and eyes going wide. "You were the one dating him?"

"Well, yea," I said.

"He told us that he was sleeping with her," Anthony said. I felt my body go numb and had to lean against the pillar for support.

"He said that he was only sleeping with her because you wouldn't put out, and didn't want to date someone who wouldn't have sex with him. Most people took it as you just couldn't sleep with him because you couldn't bring yourself to touch a man instead of a woman," Amy told me.

"Why would she do that?" I said, tears spilling out of my eyes. "Why would she cut me off from people and do me like…" Our conversation from earlier today came back to me, making everything click in place. She was super excited to be a part of the "cool" kids, and the whole time we were friends, she was trying to use me to get in the popular crowd. I realized that she was just putting them off till there was no way I would leave her behind or let them leave her out, just because she wanted to be included.

"Shit," I said as I realized what kind of friend Jessica really was to me.

"Look, I will start spreading the word about you and your…orientation," Anthony said. "I warn you now, I will not take responsibility for you being overwhelmed by dating requests." I jumped a little as he gave me a hug and walked off.

"Don't get any ideas," Amy mused. "He is taken."

"Eh, he isn't my type," I told her, which is true. He may be some eye candy, but I usually do not go for the All-American look. I wiped my eyes before jerking my head in the direction he took off in. "Who is he dating?"

"Me," Amy said, her smile growing wider. She motioned me to come out from behind the pillar. "Let's finish up this poster and we can go decorate some cars."

"Amy," I said. "Why did you really approach me? What made you finally try to reach out to me?" Amy gave me this queer little smile as she shook her head.

"Not only did we just now get an opportunity," she told me, "but somehow, it felt like that barrier that kept us out was finally let down." She gave me a wink before skipping off toward the parking lot and leaving me to ponder what she said.

* * *

I was still fuming when Daniel came to pick me up that afternoon. I made sure to dash out of the stadium and to the parking lot before Jessica could come and find me. Daniel drove the short way home, not saying a word the entire way. I guess I was giving off the pissed off vibe. Dad was out front doing something to the front door when we pulled up, so I dashed around back. Mom was grilling burgers with Mouse dutifully guarding her and the grill. I dropped my bag on the patio table and gave Mom a quick hug from behind.

"Bad day?" Mom called out as I headed to the workshop.

"You could say that," I yelled, flinging open the workshop doors and grabbing my safety goggles. I threw myself into my project, carving and chiseling away at the wood to take out my frustrations. Someone set some dinner on my table at some point, and I grabbed bites of it here and there as I let myself fully become absorbed in my work. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I stepped back and took a good, long look at my work. The intricate designs and pictures were amazing now that I see it all put together.

"Damn," Matthew said, standing in the workshop doorway.

"That is not a nice thing for a man of the church to say," I told him in a sing-song voice.

"When Dad told me you were working on something, I did not imagine it would be something this amazing," he told me as he came to stand beside me. "Are you going to color it or stain it?"

"I need to ask Carlos," I told him. "His grandmother gave him the pattern and I just added things that seemed to fit. I am finished with the carving though."

"Looks fantastic," he told me. "You need to go upstairs and shower before the game."

"Is it that late?" I asked, looking at the clock. I gasped when I saw the time. "I better hurry." I ran into the house and up the stairs to shower. Mom must have known I was running later than I wanted because my entire outfit I usually wear to the game was hanging up on the bathroom door when I stepped out of the shower. As soon as I was dressed, I ran downstairs and out the front door. Mom was reading the riot act to Little Harry as he opened the side door on our ancient van.

"And if anything happens at the game," Mom said.

"I know I know," he said as he waved Mouse into the van. "Get everyone straight home. I know the drill."

"I will see you later, Mom," I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and hopping in the back with Mouse.

"Try to stay out of trouble," Mom called out as Little Harry shut the van door. Matthew came out of the house with a large parcel in his hands. He shoved it in the back of the van before getting in the front passenger seat.

"Aw, you don't want to party back here with Mouse?" I asked as Mouse put his snout in Matthew's ear.

"I am a grown-up. I don't have to sit in the back with the children, human or other kind," he said turning his face to Mouse. Mouse gave Matthew a lick across the face before moving so he was sitting in the next to me. Little Harry hopped in the driver seat and started the car. Mom leaned in the window.

"Margaret Angelica Carpenter, you will stick by your brothers!" she shouted.

"Yes Mom," I said, rolling my eyes. She kissed Little Harry on the cheek before heading back into the house. We all let out a sigh of relief. We loved our mother, but sometimes she was a little over bearing.

As soon as Little Harry started the car, Mouse started to quiver with excitement. The drive to the school was short, but it seemed to take an eternity with Mouse in the back seat with me. He climbed all over me and kept going from one end of the car to the other. Matthew shook his head when Mouse tried to climb into the front seat. "You would think that he would sit still like a good dog when we go for drives."

"Mouse hasn't been in a car for a while," Little Harry said. He looked at me in the rearview mirror. "You couldn't get the special pass I take it?"

"He is a guard dog, not a guide dog," I replied. The school parking lot came into view and Mouse started to go nuts. He was whining, pawing at the window, and making soft whuffs at me that seemed to say "Come on! Let me out I wanna PLAY!"

"Maggie, can I say that your dog is strange?" Matthew sighed as we pulled into a parking space. I let out a groan as Mouse stepped on my thigh to get as close to the door as possible. Little Harry laughed as he shut off the van and jumped out. He opened the side door and Mouse jumped out with a sharp bark. I sighed as I stepped out of the car. Matthew handed me a lint roller and we began to get the poodles worth of dog hair off me. Mouse just watched, but I could swear he looked sheepish. I threw the lint roller in the van and gave Mouse a full turn.

"How do I look?" I asked him. I was wearing just some jeans and a school spirit t-shirt, but I felt like being silly. He cocked his head to the side, giving me a considering look before sneezing. I laughed and knelt down to scratch behind his ears. "You are such a good boy, Mouse."

"Hi Maggie!" I froze mid-scratch. I stood, slowly turning in the direction I heard the voice. Jessica was standing there, her outfit barely within school regulations to attend any school functions, with Nathan leering behind her and a huge smile on her face. Mouse emitted a low growl as he stood to come to my side. I watched her smile wobble when she saw Mouse. "Oh, you brought him. Why didn't you wait for me after school? I wanted to ask you what the plans were tonight."

"I decided to have my brother's come to the game with me," I told her, laying my hand on Mouse's head. I knew he wouldn't attack Jessica. He just didn't like her, which is one of the main reasons why she has not spent time in my house since we were thirteen and he took a sudden dislike for her.

"Oh," she said, drooping slightly. "I would not have minded spending time with them." Little Harry snorted behind me and Matthew coughed loudly.

"We are going to miss the start of the game," Little Harry said.

"Well, let's go!" Jessica said, grabbing Nathan's hand with a grin.

"No," I told her, burying my fingers in Mouse's fur.

"What?" Jessica said, giving me a baffled look.

"Jessica, I want nothing to do with you anymore," I told her. She blinked a couple times, her smile diminishing a bit.

"You don't mean that," she said, letting go of Nathan's hand and taking a couple steps toward me. Mouse snarled, putting himself between her and I before she could get any closer. Nathan put both his hands up and backed away a couple of steps. "Maggie, come on. Don't let popularity get to your head now that Amy's crowd-"

"This is not about them," I said, my voice shaking as my rage overtook me. "Tell me, did you start sleeping with Jonathan before or after he and I were officially a couple?" Jessica's face fell.

"I didn't-"

"Stuff it," I said, holding up a hand. "I am going to watch the game. Don't follow me, don't talk to me, and don't expect me to talk to you on Monday. You are no longer my friend, and from what I hear you haven't been. Stay away from me. Good-bye, Jessica." I turned and ignored her calling out after me as I stalked up the hill to the stadium. My brothers followed after me in silence as my anger abated the further away from Jessica I got.

"I take it you finally saw her for who she was," Little Harry said to me as pulled me aside and Matthew went up to the ticket booth to get our passes.

"Amy and Anthony talked to me today," I told him.

"It is about time someone besides family did," he replied. He ran his hands through his hair and sigh. "Look, Mags, I didn't want to tell you but you know your birthday sleep over last year?"

"Yea, when she had to leave first thing in the morning because her mom said that she needed her for something?" I said. I also remember it because Mom said that she didn't want Jessica back to stay the night anymore after that.

"That isn't the truth," Little Harry told me. He coughed and scratched his arm as he shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "I cannot really say this delicately Maggie."

"Mom heard her proposition Little Harry for sex," Matthew said as he came up beside me.

"What?" I said, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"She offered her, um, self if I could get her in with the popular crowd," Little Harry said, holding out his hand to Matthew. "Gimme the ticket. I will take Mouse and head inside while you handle her." Matthew sighed and handed over one of the tickets before putting an arm around my shoulders. We walked together slowly, watching the reactions of people as soon as they saw Mouse. It actually made me smile in spite of everything.

"How long has she kept me away from people?" I finally got the courage to ask Matthew.

"I would say when you both where eleven," Matthew said. "She seemed to give off this aura when you two would go to parties or when you were out playing at the park. People just glanced over or shied away from you."

"Why didn't anyone say anything?" I asked him, studying my brother's face. He clenched his jaw and shook his head.

"Mom didn't want to ruin your friend for you," he said. "I was hoping she would calm down when you two his high school, but apparently she got worse."

"What do you mean worse?" I asked.

"Later, we are almost to the gate," Matthew said, pointing to the gate. Father Anderson was sitting in the chair there, looking very much annoyed to be there. His eyes rose when Matthew was within recognition distance.

"You are not a student," Father Anderson stated plaintively, pointing to Matthew and glaring.

"Now now Father, is that anyway to talk to a paying patron of the athletic department?" Matthew said as he handed over our tickets.

"Mister Carpenter, I trust you will be on your best behavior tonight?" Father Anderson said, taking the tickets and handing us back our stubs. "I do not want another incident like the last game you attended."

"I would never do that!" Matthew gasped, grabbing my hand and pulling me past the gates.

"What is he talking about?" I asked Matthew as we weaved through the crowd.

"Nothing to worry about," he said. "Besides, no one here is from my crew anyway."

"Crew?" I yelled over people cheering.

"Hey, there is Little Harry and Mouse," Matthew said, pointing in the direction of the concession stand. He let my hand go and I pushed through the crowd just in time to see one of the lovely concession moms' give him a very large hot dog.

"You are not suppose to eat people food," I said with a comically fierce look on my face. Mouse just gave me a grin while the woman who gave him a hot dog shrugged.

"Sorry," she said. "Little Harry just needed to talk to someone for a minute and I offered to watch him. He was looking at me with those large eyes and I couldn't resist."

"He is like that," I said, rubbing his head affectionately. "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh don't worry," she said, waving me off. "What kind of dog is he?"

"A mutt," I told her. Aunt Karrin had given him to me as a gift and told me that is what he was. When I was nine ten I asked her if he was part wooly mammoth. Her eyes grew wide and filled with tears. She pulled me into a hug and laughed into my hair.

"No," she told me. "He is not part wooly mammoth." She walked away and was sniffling. I never knew why she reacted like that, and I didn't think to ask.

"Bring him back later to love on," she called out as I started to lead him away.

"Thank you," I said as I took him by the collar and headed for the stands. I did not get far before I heard someone call out my name. I looked above me and saw Anthony waving at me about halfway up in the stands. Mouse and I made our way to the stands and up to where Anthony was standing. Little Harry was in the middle of the group of them, talking and waving his hand animatedly as he was probably telling them some story from school. Anthony raised his eyebrows when we were close enough to get a good look at Mouse.

"Little Harry said you had a dog, not a buffalo," Anthony stated as he gestured for me to sit.

"Ha ha, like we haven't heard anything like that before," I said. Anthony sat next to Mouse, scratching behind his ears.

"So, how are we doing?" I asked, watching the guys on the field tackle each other.

"Well, we aren't that far into the first quarter, but so far the other team has scored twice," Anthony sighed. "Ah, look! The girls are going to do a pyramid!" I focused on the cheerleaders, and was amazed at how well they were doing this year. Last year, I used to watch and see how close they would come to doing a face plant when they would miss catching them in the proper fashion. It amazed me that the girls were not afraid.

"I really need to start coming around more," Matthew said as he sat down behind me. "I do not remember this many good looking girls when I was in school."

"And most of them are jailbait brother dear, so keep your eyes on the game," I said. Matthew chuckled and muttered something under his breath that was low enough I could pretend I did not hear it. The crowd cheered and everyone around me when to their feet as someone from our team intercepted the ball. I jumped up and cheer with them as the guy ran down the field till her was tackled near the 10 yard line. From then on my eyes were glued to the field, watching as our team rallied and start to really play the game. I thought I was going to lose my voice I shouted so much. By half time, the game was twenty-four to nineteen in our favor.

"Do you want anything from the concession stand? Matthew and I are going to make a run," Little Harry asked, as the marching band took the field.

"I want some nachos and can you get Mouse a couple hot dogs?" I asked.

"Yea," Little Harry said, stepping over Anthony and letting Amy by to walk down the stairs.

"How you liking the game?" Amy asked, sitting in Nathan's lap. Mouse immediately put his head in hers. My respect for Amy rose a bit when she didn't even flinch. Most of the girlie girls freaked out when it came to Mouse.

"It is okay," I said. Mouse lifted his head up and pawed at her leg. "That means he wants you to pet him."

"He is such a charmer," Amy said, putting both hands under his chin and rubbing at the bottom of his ears while touching his nose to hers. "Why haven't you brought him to the games before?"

"He isn't allowed without a pass or Little Harry's charm," I replied.

"Dude, we can get him in," Anthony said. "He is a well-behaved dog, and we have the cheerleaders on our side."

"Oh whoa! We are under aged and in short skirts who fear for our safety against strange men! We need this large dog to make us feel safe," she dramatically swooned against Anthony at those words. Mouse looked back at me and gave me a look that seemed to ask _Is this chick for real?_

"Hey, who is that chick on the field?" I heard someone a few people down on my row ask. I looked at the field, and my whole body jerked in shock. Jessica was standing on the fifty-yard line, her head bowed and holding something out stretched in her hands.

"Mouse, come with me," I said, standing and climbing over Anthony and Amy.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, grabbing my hand.

"Going to talk to her," I replied, breaking her grip on my hand and running down the steps. The campus security was talking to the opposite teams band as Mouse and I went through the gate. Both bands were on the sidelines, pointing at her and talking to each other. When we were close enough to see her face, I saw her lips moving. "Jess, what are you doing?"

"You can't leave me," she said. Her head snapped up, causing her hair to move back slightly and show more of her face. My eyes grew wide at the site of her tear-streaked face. The mascara runs down her cheeks made her look almost demonic with her bloodshot eyes. "I only wanted to be popular. You are the only way."

"You slept with my boyfriend and propositioned my brother," I said slowly, taking a few steps forward. "What makes you think that I would still be friends with you after I found that out?"

"Because I did it for us!" she yelled. "I slept with everyone who could improve our chances to be at the top! Everyone who I slept with said that they would help us. It was only a matter of time before they would put in a good word for us and I spent years trying to make us popular, waiting for the right time to let the guards down so we had just enough mystery to be cool. It was luck about the ice cream shop robbery. It was the push we needed. We could have went all the way to the top on that, but you found out everything I did to help us."

"Jess, what is that?" I asked, gesturing to the object in her hands. I felt Mouse's chest rumbled as he let out a growl.

"Miss, just put down whatever is in your hands," I heard someone say. I looked out of the corner of my eye, seeing a couple of the security officers approaching her. One of them had his hand on the holster he kept his Taser. "Don't do something you might regret. Just put down the bomb slowly."

"I wouldn't blow everyone up," she told them, a strange grin coming over her face. "They deserve something much worse."

"Jessica, please don't do this," I pleaded, as I took a couple more steps towards her. Fear for my brothers' lives came over me as she began to cackle. The object in her hand started to give off a purple glow. "I love you. Please, just set that down and we can talk this over. I promise I will hear you out."

"It's too late," she howled. "You have already chosen! You are one of them! You will pay with them!" She let out a string of words that I could not identify, then slammed the object she held on the ground. As Mouse jumped between the following explosion and I, it occurred to me that maybe I should have thought this through better. Mouse knocked me over onto my back as he stood in front of me in a stance that seemed familiar in some corner of my brain, blocking my view of Jessica and the security guards. People were screaming and I looked over at the stands to see people running over each other to get down. I slowly pulled myself into a kneeling position, looking over Mouse's back to see what exactly happened as a result of what Jessica did. I realized I was way out of my element when I saw a group of about eight large purple imps gnawing on what was left of what I assumed was the security guards' bodies since the uniforms were one them. I cried out, and the imps stopped chewing. I felt myself tremble as their eyes narrowed on me in what I could assume was hunger.

"Well, it was nice knowing you Mouse," I said, right before the imps took a flying leap toward us.


	5. Surprises

**Chapter 5: Surprises**

As I braced myself for the imps to tear my apart, a few things crossed my mind. First, my mother was going to kill my brothers if they made it out of the stadium alive. Second, I was supposed to have a chemistry test on Monday. Third, this was going to hurt.

A lot.

The first imp didn't have a chance. Mouse nabbed it out of the air with his mouth, tearing it apart in no time. I grabbed the next imp and whirled him around. I caught two imps with that before tossing all three of them at the remaining four that got past Mouse. They landed in a heap on the field a few feet from Jessica, who was chanting and holding out her cupped hands filled with balls the size of marbles that were glowing different colors. I did not wait to see what those would unleash.

"Come on Mouse!" I yelled as I turned and started to run while the purple imps were still trying to untangle themselves.

"You will not get away!" I heard Jessica scream behind me as I saw Anthony and Amy running towards me. Anthony was carrying was looked like an armful of arrows while Amy was notching an arrow in the bow she was carrying.

"Get out of here!" I roared.

"Yea right," Amy said, releasing the arrow. I turned around to see a blue imp hit the ground as Mouse snatched a yellow imp in his jaws. Anthony came beside me and dropped the arrows.

"We have to stop her," Anthony said, taking some shiny objects out of his pockets. "She may have more of those summoning clays that we have ammo."

"You may not," Amy said as she stopped in front of me before releasing an arrow and taking down two imps at once. "I am, however, and excellent shot." Anthony snorted and shook his head before throwing a shiny object from his left hand. I saw it was a throwing star before it hit a red imp and imbedded in its forehead. That imp went down and the purple imps began to devour their downed companion. I looked around and saw that most of the imps were more concerned with fighting each other than attacking the people Jessica was trying to target with them.

"What is going on?" I asked, dodging an imp. Anthony threw a star at that one before it even left the perimeter of the field.

"We're killing time," Anthony said.

"It takes a long time to get to the van since you guys parked so far out," Amy said as she shot three arrows at once and somehow hit two imps with each of them. I raised my eyebrows in respect. Not many people can do that.

"Wait, what does Mom's van have to do with this?" I asked, grabbing a green imp by the wing and flinging it out into the fray. Jessica was screaming at the imps to stop fighting, dropping more and more little balls on the field. The imps were starting to look like a writhing mass instead of individual imps.

"That," Anthony said, jerking his head in the direction of the main football field entrance. I blinked a couple of times, and stepped behind Amy to take a good look and make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Matthew was carrying a sword. A big sword. You could see the calm just rolling off him as he approached the first set of fighting imps and raised the sword. It sliced through the imps in front of him like a knife in butter. He weaved through the imps, leaving devastation in his wake. I watched in awe as my brother grew faster and smoother in his movements. It was like watching someone dance. My brother's surprising swordsmanship combined with Amy and Anthony's skills at picking the imps off in pairs quickly brought the numbers of imps down to a sparse few. Jessica could not throw down the clay balls fast enough.

"No!" she screamed as Matthew drew closer and closer. She held another handful of the marbles as he slashed down the last imp standing between them. Her body shook with rage as my brother slowly walked toward her. "I will not let you do this."

"Jessica, in the name of our Holy Father, I ask you to stop this travesty and surrender yourself for judgment," Matthew said, pointing the sword at her. Amy, Anthony, and Mouse were slowly moving forward, catching the straggling imp as they went. Being the only one who was not armed with a weapon of some sort, I waited a minute before slowing inching forward behind them.

"There is nothing God can do to punish me," Jessica spat at him. She was shaking so hard some of the balls in her hands were falling to the ground before she had the chance to make them glow. "I do not answer to God anymore." She started chanting those strange words again making the balls to start glowing faintly.

"Then I suppose you will have to answer to something much different," Matthew roared. He smacked the flat of his blade against her wrist causing her to drop the balls. They stopped glowing before they even hit the ground. Matthew had his sword around pointed at her throat just as Mouse tore apart the last imp on the field. The four of us joined Matthew and we made a circle around Jessica, Amy behind her, Anthony and Mouse on either side, and I stood next to Matthew. She was sobbing as she hit her knees with Matthew's sword following her. I felt him taking great heaving breaths and turned to ask him if he was okay. What I saw on my brother's face shocked me.

He was angry.

Matthew was a very calm soul. When one of us broke something of his, it was just an object. If someone needed someone to talk to, everyone knew to go to Matthew. I am pretty sure that if someone punched him, Matthew would turn the other cheek with a smile. At this moment, his face was set in what I assumed what righteous fury. I place a hand on his arm in hopes to try and keep him in check. He turned his head slowly to face me, his sword not moving an inch from Jessica's throat.

"Judgment will rain down on those who go against the will of our Lord," he said harshly in Latin.

"We have to leave the judgments for those who better understand the crime," I replied softly in Latin.

"I got it from here Matthew," I heard Little Harry say from behind me. Matthew shook his head a couple of times and dropped the sword on the ground before hitting his knees in tears. I wrapped my arms around Matthew as Little Harry and two large men tied Jessica up in some glowing chains. I rubbed my hands up and down my brother's back as the two large men carried Jessica off.

"Where are they taking her?" I asked Little Harry as Mouse came over and nosed me out of the way. I stood and moved so Mouse could sit next to Matthew. "I mean, she will be okay right?"

"She will be…taken care of," Little Harry said before closing the distance quickly between us and wrapping me in a bear hug. I blinked a couple of times in shock. He rarely hugged me, and never like this. He set me down and shook my by the shoulders, hard. "What in the name of Nevernever were you thinking?"

"Nevernever?" I said. "What is that?"

"Mom would have killed me!" he yelled. "No, wait. She would have chewed me up one side and down the other, then had me do all the house work till the house was spotless, then kill me, then somehow bring me back from the dead to clean up the mess she made with my body, then take me out in the backyard to burn my body after decapitating me!"

"That was…very explicate," Anthony said as he walked up to us with his hands full of throwing stars dripping with different colored goo. "Look, Amy is getting antsy to get back to the BFS and clean her arrows. The goo from these creatures dissolving upon death is getting into the wood she said and wants to get the arrows cleaned before it sets."

"Yea yea," Little Harry sighed and turned his head slightly. "She is not OCD at all."  
"HEY! I just like my things neat!" Amy yelled. I leaned around Little Harry just to see her pick up an arrow and grumble to herself.

"At least we won't need a clean-up crew," Anthony said, kicking an imp that was in what looked to be in the beginning stages of dissolving. I turned around, really taking in the field. The imps had gotten the two security guards, but no one else. There were various piles of what looked to be melted hard candy where all the imps seemed to have died.

"Looks like we have to take her with us to debrief," Amy said as she pointed a handful of arrows toward the road where red and blue lights were coming towards us. "If we are lucky we can avoid questioning."

"You ride in the SUV?" Little Harry asked as he walked over to where Matthew was now hugging a very bored looking Mouse. He picked up the sword and heaved it over his shoulder before giving Matthew a shake. "We need to move fast and two cars instead of one would also look less suspicious."  
"We did," Anthony said. He jerked his head at Matthew. "Do you need help getting him into the van?"

"I am fine," Matthew said, getting shakily to his feet. "We will meet you there. Take Maggie."

"Matthew-" I stopped speaking when I saw the look in his eyes. I did not know how to describe it. It was like he had lost something and felt like he would never get it back.

"I will take care of him," Little Harry told me, giving me a gentle shove on the back. "We will see you at BFS."

"Ummm, okay," I said, giving Anthony and Amy a questioning look. They both smiled and Amy gave me an encouraging wave of her hand.

"Come on, we need to hurry," Amy said. Anthony picked up a stack of arrows and started to run off the field. Amy and I quickly followed behind him. We made it through the gates and into the SUV before the police vans drove through the gates. I buckled my seat belt and realized that someone very important was not with me.

"Mouse!" I screamed, as Anthony started the car and quickly backed out of the parking space.

"He is in the van with your brothers," Amy told me calmly as we went over the speed bumps in the parking lot at a jarring speed. "He knows he is not allowed in my car. He gets hair all over it."

"And I cannot stand the way he drools in my ear, when he rides in the back seat," Anthony said as he turned out of the parking lot. "Last time he was in the car with us, I had to wash out my ears with a bottle filled with saline."

"When did he ride in the car with you?" I asked. "Mouse never leaves my side when I am home and I am pretty sure that you guys are in school when I am. And what does BFS stand for?"

"Maggie, it means Brighter Future Society," Amy said turning slightly to look at me. "Haven't you ever called it that?"

"Wait, we are going to Aunt Karrin's work?" I replied.

"We have been living there since we were both eleven," Anthony told me as he turned sharply on a curve. I heard a ding sound from the dashboard. "Shit, and now the check lights start malfunctioning." I heard Amy grinding her teeth together from the back seat.

"Which ones are going off?" I asked.

"Ummm," Anthony said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"All of them, right?" Amy asked tightly. Anthony gave her a terse nod. She went into a string of curses, some of them more creative than I have ever heard from anyone before ending it with, "Damn wizards!"

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Anthony said as he screeched the SUV to a halt in front of the _Brighter Future Society_. We all piled out of the car and with Anthony and Amy carrying armfuls of arrows to the door. Anthony knocked on the glass doors and waved at someone. The doors opened automatically a few seconds large man at the front desk sighed and pointed to the table next to the desk.

"Put the ammo there and someone will transport it to the cleaning room. The ammo will be returned to you within a few days and all will be there," he said in a bored voice.

"Thanks Marcus," Amy said as she unceremoniously dumped her armful of arrows on the table and put her bow on top of it. Anthony emptied all his throwing stars out of his pockets and he ever took some out from under his shirt that he had in some sort of holster for them around his waist.

"Nice to see you again Maggie," Marcus said.

"Same to you Marcus," I replied.

"Murphy said to go on to the main room. She is finishing up with the Women's Self Defense class," Marcus said, hitting a button on the desk that popped open the door behind him. I gave Marcus a smile in thanks as the three of us trooped past him and through the door. We arrived in the main room just as Aunt Karrin let out one of her famous yells and flipped a large man onto the mat. The group of women applauded her and cheered.

"Now ladies, remember that you have to use the attackers weight against him to propel him forward," she said. "Class is over. Remember to practice and I will see you next week." When all the women left and the door was shut, I turned to Anthony and Amy.

"Okay, you two have to tell me what the hell is going on," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "First of all, what do you mean that you live here? I have not seen you here before today. Why would you live here? Second, Mouse never leaves my side. How would he ride in your car if he never leaves my side? And third, why are you cheerleading and not on the archery team, Amy?

"Ummm," Anthony said, looking behind me. I turned to Aunt Karrin, and saw her suddenly very interested in folding up all the mats.

"You know about this," I stated, feeling anger bubbling up inside of me. I whirled around to see Amy turning red in the face. "You, talk. Now!"

"We couldn't help it before," Amy said softly, her eyes tearing up. "Jessica was always with you. We kept trying to break through her spells, but she kept renewing it so well."

"What do you mean spells?" I asked.

"I think you need to sit down," Aunt Karrin sighed and gestured to corner where there were several couches and loveseats.

"I do not need to sit down," I screamed. "I just want to know what was going on!"

"Jessica was a wizard," Anthony said plaintively, throwing up his hands. "Look, we have been trying to get to this for years. Please, sit down for us and we can wait for your brothers to get here."

"Wizards are made up," I said. "It is something in television and books."

"No, they are real," Amy said with a sigh. "Look, Anthony and I have lived here because our parents were killed a couple of years after the Red Court was destroyed. The power struggle was ended soon after that but we have lived here with our foster families ever since."

"Red Court," I repeated.

"And we rather not draw attention to our skills because we might bring notice to people out there who still will want to kill us," Anthony said. "Being normal teenagers keeps us hidden."

"You should really sit down," Aunt Karrin said, placing her hand on my shoulder and gently guiding me to the corner. "Let's not worry about anything else right now till your brothers get here and can help explain some things."

"Explain what things?" I asked, shaking her hand off me. "Tonight I have seen two of the most popular people in my school kill imps all the colors of the rainbow that my only real friend, who slept with my now ex-boyfriend by the way, somehow summoned with clay balls to get revenge. Not to mention that my big brother wielded a large medieval sword while my other brother had two men lug her off in glowing chains like some sort of movie. If you could explain anything to me, I would like to know how the hell you guys were able to get a bow and arrow into the stadium without security stopping you!"

"I stashed their things in the concession stand earlier in the evening," Little Harry said, coming through the door. Mouse bound over to me and leaned against my legs, his face set in a doggy grin as his tail thumped against the mats. I scratched behind his ears and watched Matthew slowly walk in the room. Every step he took seemed strained as he came up to me and wrapped me in a gentle hug, ignoring the noise Mouse made as he was pushed out of the way.

"I am happy you are safe," he murmured in my hair as he rocked us back and forth.

"What is going on?" I asked him softly, pulling back and out of his arms.

"We aren't supposed to tell you," Matthew replied, giving me a shrug.

"Not tell me what?!" I screeched.

"If you sit down not only will I tell you everything that you need to know, but I will also deal with Mom when we get home," Little Harry said. Matthew gave Little Harry a quick sideways glance before nodding and giving me a shoved toward the chairs.

"Sit," Matthew said.

"But-"

"Unless you want deal with Mom when we get back to the house, you are going to sit down, shut up, and listen to the answers you have demanded," Matthew told me as he shoved me into the nearest chair before pulling another chair beside mine and settling himself in it with a grin. "And if you are a good girl, I will even buy you a Happy Meal on the way home."

* * *

"This sounds like something out of a science-fiction show," I said a half an hour later. "You are telling me that vampires are real, Jessica was doing spells to keep me to herself, and Matthew is part of some sort of religious cult?"

"The Knights of the Cross are not a religious cult," Matthew snapped. "We are a religious order that takes care of issues caused by supernatural forces or other means that make trouble."

"Whatever," I said, pinching my nose with a sigh. "Look, this has got to be one of the weirdest nights of my life. Does Mom know about this stuff?"

"Well, kind of," Little Harry said. "She pretty much doesn't ask anything if we come home hurt. And going through this with Molly helped a lot too."

"Molly is a part of this?" I said. "When did this happen?"

"When I was a teenager," Molly said as she waddled in the room with Carlos trailing behind her. In one hand he was carrying several large brown bags with the Burger King logo on them, and a couple of trays of drinks in the other. Molly settled herself on the couch against the far wall while Carlos set everything on the table in the middle of the chairs. He looked one of the bags and handed it to me.

"Triple Whopper with two orders of large fries, an order of those cinnamon things, and in this stack of drinks somewhere is a large Coke and a shake of some sort," he told me.

"You are my favorite brother-in-law," I said in a sarcastically serious tone. He rolled his eyes and went back to handing out the bags. I dug into my meal; temporarily putting the night's events out of my mind as the taste of burgers almost as good as my mother's filled my mouth when I took the first bite of my own piece of nirvana. I swallowed it, and sighed, "Hail to the King baby." Molly paused slightly, so slightly that I doubt anyone but family would notice, then continued eating like nothing happened. I took another bite of my burger, watching my sister and trying to see if there were any other ticks, but she acted normal.

"So, are we going to tell Mom about what happy adventures that we had tonight?" I asked no one in particular since there were quite a few members of the family in the room.

"I told her before I left the house," Molly said.

"You dealt with Mom?" I said, almost dropping my Coke in shock. Molly usually stayed out of the way for discussions like this. If Little Harry and I got into trouble, she would laugh and sit back to watch the show.

"I had to tell her that we were finally going to tell you about who you were," she told me before shoving a handful of fries into her mouth.

"What do you mean what I am?" I asked, looking around at everyone in the room. They all avoided my gaze, looking only at their food or each other. Even Aunt Karrin wouldn't look at me.

"Wizards run in the family," Little Harry finally said after a few moments of silence. He let out a huff of breath before looking me in the eyes with a determined look in them. "Look, remember when you were younger and you broke the lamp?"

"Yea and I didn't even touch it," I said, remembering how the lamp exploded when I was eleven. I was walking into the living room, and sparks shot from it. The family had a good laugh about it. Mom did not even bat an eyelash when she was told what happened. She just cleaned it up and started replacing the lights with oil lamps.

"Electronics have a tendency to get a little wonky when around magic people," Little Harry said, standing and walking over to where there was the electronic clock on the wall. He sighed before reaching up to put his hand on it. The clock immediately sparked and went dark. I blinked a couple of times, not sure what to say.

"That is not nearly as impressive as when you exploded the scoreboard when you we tackled against it last year," Amy giggled. "The crowd didn't know what to think of it."

"You have got to be kidding me," I said.

"Catch Maggie," Aunt Karrin said, throwing something at me. I caught it out of reflex. It took just a few seconds for me to realize it was one of those cheap little phones that you can get at the stores when you couldn't get a contract. I looked at it for a minute, admiring it since it was the first cell phone I had touched in over a year, and shrieked when it sparked in my hand. The phones screen also cracked as smoke came from it while playing one of those cute bubbly ringtones, but it was warbling instead of that wonderful clear music sound. Matthew plucked it from my hand with a sigh and took out the battery, silencing it.

"So, are you trying to tell me I am a wizard?" I asked, looking from Little Harry to Molly.

"You aren't the only one," Carlos said, saying something in Spanish. One of the paper bags on the table lit on fire and started to burn.

"Shit Ramirez really?" Aunt Karrin said, picking up a nearby coat and beating the fire out. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that shit in my dojo?"

"Just trying to prove a point Murphy," he replied with one of his charming smiles. She stared him down, now even batting an eyelash till the smile faded. "Sorry Murphy."

"Next time, do it outside or in one of the designated classrooms," she snarled, picking up a nearby trash can and sweeping all the trash on the table into it. Her face tightened in anger when she saw a scorch mark on the table.

"I will sand that table and re-stain it," Carlos blurted.

"You better," she muttered, setting the trash can where everyone could start throwing their food wrappers in it.

"How many of us are there?" I asked, setting my Coke on the table since I was shaking so hard that I thought I was going to drop it.

"Well, in this room there are only four," Molly said sleepily from her position on the couch. I looked over to see my sister laying back, wrappers littering the floor around her. She had her eyes closed with her hands protectively around her belly. "As far as all over the world, I would say about in the upper hundreds of thousands, maybe even breaking a million."

"How come we don't see them all the time then?" I asked. "Surely I would have run into some other wizards around town."

"We like to stay hidden," Little Harry told me.

"Some of us do anyway," Carlos muttered.

"Most of the time, we stick to ourselves, doing things for society that keep the supernatural out of the spotlight," Molly yawned. "We actually are pretty important in keeping things together and not letting the non-magical people of the world see what we do."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Those imps for one thing," Amy said.

"Let's not forget those wraiths that we helped Morty deal with," Anthony said.

"Morty? You mean Uncle Morty? The meditation specialist?" I asked, reaching into my bag and shoving the rest of my fries into my mouth.

"You remember hearing on the news about that Zombie Walk that went wrong?" Amy asked. I nodded, mouth so full of fries I could not say anything. "Well, it was really a bunch of wraiths that were summoned by some amateur who thought they were all bad ass and they could not handle what they summoned. Morty just walked up while we were trying to hold them back till the White Council sent some back up, and said a couple of words. The wraiths immediately came to attention and he just led them away."

"I asked him a couple of weeks later what he did with them, and he just shrugged with a smile," Anthony chuckled. "He seems so chill, but I think he has a lot of power there."

"So, Jessica was one of these wizards?" I asked after I finally swallowed my fries.

"Yes," Little Harry told me, looking uncomfortable.

"We have had our suspicions about her for a while," Carlos said. "We have been trying to get a good read on her for quite some time, but she was somehow able to hide her abilities till today."

"What is going to happen to her? Where did those men take her?" I asked, digging in my food bag to get out my cinnamon things.

"Wizards aren't allowed to use magic kill," Little Harry said quietly. I froze in mid-shovel, cinnamon things dropping out of my grip. The tone in his voice was not good.

"She isn't coming back, is she?" I asked Little Harry.

"The Council with execute her within the week," Carlos replied.

"Couldn't they do something to help her?" I warbled, tears rolling down my cheeks. I was not even sure why I was crying over someone who basically used me for years, but I started to sob as it truly hit me that someone who was a big part of my life was not just going to not speak or come near me. Jessica might actually die. "Can't someone explain to them she didn't have any good influences? Why can't you guys speak up for her on her behalf? She was my only f-friend and she is g-g-going to be killed and I won't see her again if you d-don't help her…" I babbled on like that for some time, trying to plead with everyone in the room. Matthew started to rub my back as my words finally broke down into just blubbering sounds. Jessica may have been a horrible person, and I hated her for what she did, but I didn't want her to die. When my sobs died down to sniffles, Carlos kneeled in front of me to look me in the eye.

"Jessica is beyond help," he told me gently as he brushed some lingering tears off my cheeks. "She was already using magic to affect the freewill of others, and killing those people with the imps pretty much put the nails in her coffin."

"But she could get better," I whispered to him, begging him with those words to try and convince him that she might be saved.

"No sweetheart, she won't," he said as he stood back up. "I will go to her trial in the next couple of days. Right now, I am going to take your sleepy older sister home so I won't have to carry her to bed like the last couple of nights."

"Just leave me here," Molly mumbled from her position on the couch, already half-asleep. "Won't be the first time I slept here."

"I don't have any objections," Aunt Karrin said amusedly.

"I will get out a couple mats," Little Harry said, walking over to the wall where there was a stack of dried disinfected mats.

"We better get up to our dorm," Anthony said, picking up all the trash and throwing it in the can Aunt Karrin left.

"I will go up and tell Theresa that you are out past curfew on my time," Aunt Karrin sighed.

"She will make you do our punishment chores again," Amy laughed, standing before walking over and giving me a tight hug. I gave one back and was just ask shocked when Anthony followed suit.

"Jessica wasn't your only friend you know," he told me.

"What?" I said as he pulled back.

"You have always had other friends," he told me with a smile. "She just kept you from seeing us."

"Now, we can hang out without having to figure out how to get around Jessica," Amy said, grabbing his arm and pulling Anthony toward the door of the dojo.

"We best be getting home too Mags," Matthew said as he stood. He grabbed my shake and Coke before walking towards the door. "Meet you guys in the car."

"Okay," Little Harry said. He gave out a sharp whistle and Mouse bounded over from somewhere. I guess he must have disappeared to one of the corners while I was preoccupied with eating or crying my heart out. He picked up one of the bags that hadn't been touched with his teeth before walking out the door with it. Carlos had settled himself on the pile of mats that were now in front of a snoring Molly, and he gave a wave before putting his hands behind his head as a pillow.

"If I don't get you home soon, Mom is gonna kill me," Little Harry sighed while pulled me into a standing position. He was basically dragging me with him toward the door we were walking so fast.

"When do you know you could do magic?" I asked as I tried to not stumble over his feet. I saw his jaw clench and he shook his head sharply only once.

"Let's save that for another day," he replied tightly as we walked past Aunt Karrin coming back.

"I will call your parents with your new class schedule here tomorrow," she called out as Little Harry pushed/pulled me down the hall.

"What classes?" I called out to her, but Littler Harry answered for her.

"We are going to have to start training you to use your magic," he said.

"I have to take classes for that now too?" I whined.

"Be careful!" Marcus called out after us as Little Harry almost carried me the rest of the way to the car. Matthew and Mouse were already settled in the back, so Little Harry shoved me in the front passenger seat before making his way around to the other side of the van.

We were almost halfway home before I said, "So, does this mean that I get to fly on a broom like Harry Potter or what?" Matthew sputtered, but couldn't hold back the laughter. Little Harry just looked over at me briefly with a smile.

"Oh Mags," he said. "You have no idea what you are going to do."

* * *

**Author's Note: I am sorry it took so long for me to get back to this. I have had some major writer's block when it comes to Dresden, and after Cold Days came out, I had to scrap some things. He actually did some things that my plot math wanted and I wanted to be different. Plus, getting married, kicking people out of the house, and starting an etsy filled my days. So, here you are. If you have an ideas on what you would like to see or who you want Maggie to be taught by, let me know!  
**


	6. Let's Make Some Magic

**Chapter 6: Let's Make Some Magic**

"Is everyone really not going to talk about what really happened on Friday?" I asked Amy the following Monday while we were waiting for Mass to start.

"Nope," she replied, popping her lips slightly on the "p" to help even out her lipstick. "The best explanations we have heard about Friday are talking about how the other band's pyrotechnics being stupid dangerous."

"Did you guys know that a gang stormed the field on Friday during halftime?" Anthony said as he sat down next to Amy. "It is the strangest thing. They used some sort of flash bombs laced with hallucinogens. Made everyone crazy."

"Is that a fact?" I heard someone behind me say. I turned slightly to see a tall dark haired attractive guy wearing a St. Matthew's soccer t-shirt. "From what I saw it looked more that failed pyrotechnics." Amy bumped my leg with hers and gave me a smirk. The guy looked at me and smiled. "Hey, I am Luke."

"Maggie," I said, holding out my hand for him to shake.

"I am surprised that I haven't met you yet," Luke said to me with what I assumed to be a flirtatious smile. "I mean, Little Harry talked about you all the time and told me that you went here, but I never saw you around."

"Luke, I need you to help me with my paper," a short brunette whined, tugging on Luke's arm while moving him away from us.

"Nice to meet you Maggie," he called out as he turned and followed the girl to one of the more rowdy areas.

"And it begins," Amy sighed.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you want to keep count or should I?" Anthony asked Amy, holding out a small notepad with Luke's name written on it.

"What do you mean count?" I whispered as Father Smith took the podium.

"I will keep track since I am in most of her classes," she said, tucking the notebook in the front pocket of her messenger bag.

"Are you guys going to tell me or what?" I asked as Father Smith started going over the events of Friday and telling everyone something about the other bands performance being flawed or something.

"We are going to see how many guys hit on you now that Jessica's influence is no longer over you," Anthony told me.

"Have you forgotten that she told everyone that I was a lesbian?" I replied.

"Oh, I don't think that is an issue anymore," Amy told me as she pointed to our left. I looked where she was pointing and saw a group of what looked to be basketball players talking while pointing in our direction.

"You have got to be kidding me," I said, giving one of them a forced smile when he waved at me.

"I think I should buy some popcorn," Anthony laughed softly.

"And have an ambulance on call," Amy chirped as we were all told to stand for the morning prayers, effectively silencing us.

* * *

"I want to change schools," I grumped to Carlos as I jumped up into his truck that afternoon.

"It couldn't have been that bad," he chuckled.

"I have the list," I told him with sarcastic pride, holding up the six pages full of names. Carlos glanced over at the stack before turning out the parking lot. He let out a low whistle.

"That is impressive," he said.

"It is annoying that is what it is," I said, slumping back onto the seat. I watched the scenery pass as we drove to my first lesson in magic. Mom didn't object to it, but she also hardly spoke to me all weekend. Dad and Daniel were out at the construction site most of the weekend, so the only thing Dad said to me usually was a quick good night before I was sent to my room. I tried to get downstairs to hear what they were talking about Saturday when it happened, but Mouse stood in front of the door and wouldn't budge. He did the same thing Sunday night, so I wonder if Mom said something to him. It was actually kind of funny how he seemed to understand everything I said. A stray thought past in my head and I decided to ask before I lost the courage. "Is Mouse a human in dog form?"

"What?" Carlos said, his head turning so fast to face me I thought he would get whiplash. I guess it was lucky we were at a red light when I asked because he struggled to answer, his eyes not leaving my face. "First off, no. Secondly, let's save what Mouse is for another day," he told me. He jumped when the car behind us honked their horn, finally taking his eyes off me and driving forward. "I will tell you that Mouse is… special."

"So, he really does understand what I say, and not like normal dogs?" I asked.

"Yes," Carlos replied shortly as he stopped in front of BFS to let me out. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before turning to me with a serious look on his face. "Maggie, I want you to show this man the utmost respect. He is doing me a solid in teaching you, and honestly I didn't think that he would say yes when I sent him the invitation to instruct you. This is a very, very powerful man. He has a lot of influence over the magic community, and I don't want you on his bad side."

"How would I get on his bad side if I am just a kid?" I asked, opening the door and almost making a clean get away before Carlos grabbed my backpack. He hauled me back and put my face so close to his I could smell what he had for lunch on his breath.

"Margaret, I am only going to say this once: Behave yourself," he told me, shaking me. I looked in his eyes, seeing the slight fear behind the anger he was displaying and sighed.

"Fine, I will try to be a good little girl," I told him, prying his hand off my bag. He muttered something in Spanish as I slid out of the truck. "Ooooo I am telling my sister you said bad words in front of me!" I giggled before slamming the door shut in his face. He was trying to not laugh and hold the angry look as he drove away. I watched his truck disappear around the corner before I went in the doors and made my way to the stairwell. I climbed up eight flights of stairs where the classrooms for this kind of education were located. I had never been on this floor, Aunt Karrin telling me that it was for special sessions, and I saw why after I punched in the code to the stairwell door. The walls had large blast marks, the floor littered with rubble, and some of the classroom doors were warped. I made my way to one of the few classrooms that had a nice solid closable door, and opened it. The energy that I felt in the room almost knocked me over it was so strong. The man standing there in the hooded robe that hid his face was like a big ball of energy, and I finally understood why Carlos was so afraid of me screwing up. I don't know exactly how, but I had the feeling that this man could possibly kill me without even lifting more than a finger.

"Miss Carpenter, I am Ras. Please close the door behind you so we may begin," he said to me with an accent that was British and not at the same time.

"Yes Mr. Al-Ghul!" I joked while grabbing the doorknob, then froze when I realized I did exactly what Carlos was afraid I would do. Shaking, I closed the door and turned to him, waiting to see what he would do. It was really hard to tell what he was feeling since the hood covered his face, but he was just standing motionless in that room. I finally relaxed after what felt like an eternity when I heard him mutter something in what I assumed was Arabic in an amused tone.

"I am going to test to see where you talents lay," he told me, pointing to the table full of various objects. "Please, pick up the bottle and tell me something about it."

"Okay," I replied as respectfully as I could manage. I took polite measured steps to the table, and picked up the bottle. It was humming with energy, but I could tell much else about it. "What am I supposed to be telling you?"

"What you feel about it," he said.

"All I feel is energy," I told him.

"Just energy?" he asked.

"Yea," I said.

"That is a good start," he said. "Now, put down the bottle and pick up the rubber ball." I did as he told me, and frowned when I didn't pick up any energy from it. "Now, I want you to stand there, and concentrate your will on the ball. Think of something you want it to do and when you feel you have focused enough on it, I want you to throw it."

"What do you mean 'concentrate my will'?" I asked.

"You will figure it out?" he chuckled, walking toward the door. "I have a couple things I need to do, so just keep trying and I will be back shortly."

"Great," I muttered, staring at the ball. I heard the door open and close, and felt my body relax by several degrees. "Well, let's see what I can do," I said to myself. I began to stare at the ball, and hope for the best.

"This is utter bullshit!" I screamed after throwing the ball for the eighth time in three hours. Tears streamed down my face as I stormed over to where the ball landed to pick it back up. My sobs started about the fifth time that the stupid ball didn't do anything when I threw it. "He should have explained _how_ I was supposed to 'focus' my will on this stupid thing," I screamed, throwing the ball to the other wall. I went over to the table, and started to throw everything I could get my hands on. "If he stuck around to actually teach me something, I might have learned something. He could have taught me how to focus. He could have taught me an incantation. He could have bloody told me what the hell I was supposed to make the damn ball do in order to complete the request he gave me. But no, he left me to some stupid task that apparently should have been simple enough for a child to do since he left me alone to do it!" I hit my knees, hugging myself and rocking as I sobbed.

"Magic is never simple Maggie," I heard Ras say. I looked over at the open doorway to see him standing there, hand on the doorknob. He left the door open and kneeled down so I wouldn't have to get up, giving me a good look at the scar on his face and metal eye. "This lesson is one I have given to every person I have agreed to teach."

"This is a fucking lesson?" I snarled, not caring about showing him respect at this point. In fact, the energy that was around him before was gone, so it made me braver than I probably should have been. "Sorry sir, but this was a pathetic excuse to try and teach me magic."

"It wasn't to teach you magic," he replied calmly as he stood and offered his hand to me. I glared up at him, but took it because I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to get up without help I was so weak. When I was standing up straight, he went over to the table and picked up a bracelet with seven beads on it. As he fastened it, he continued to talk. "When people discover they have magic, most of them have this fantastical view of how it is supposed to be. What was the first thing you thought you would be doing today?"

"Learning spells," I replied hoarsely, feeling the weariness from the session finally hitting me.

"This was a lesson to teach you about patience," he explained, finishing the knot on the bracelet and giving me a smile. "Everyone thinks that you go into the magical world automatically being able to utter a few words and a fireball shooting across the room, or maybe controlling someone to do something embarrassing in front of everyone at school. Sometimes, a talent emerges and you _can_ do something amazingly strong, especially if you don't use your magic on a regular basis and it builds up. Other times, it is like Molly and over time you somehow train yourself to do something without realizing it. However, in most cases, you will not start out doing wonderful tricks."

"So what was the purpose of having me feel the energy of the bottle?" I asked, giving it a disdainful look.

"Parlor trick," he said with a shrug. "I had to wet your appetite for the lesson to really work. The rubber ball was to give you something that wasn't breakable to get your frustrations out on."

"And this," I asked, holding up my wrist with the bracelet on it.

"Ah, this is where the real lesson begins," he said, touching the bracelet. "This is a tool to help you focus your will. You will concentrate and learn to send energy into this in order to move one bead up at a time. When you can get all the beads to the top and hold them there, I will start teaching you some of the heavier stuff. For now, I have books for you to study."

"Great, more books to lug around," I grumbled.

"They are more interesting than most of your textbooks I promise," he said. He made a dismissive gesture with his hand and turned to the table. I took that as I could go and turned to go. "Oh, one more thing Miss Carpenter," he said. I stopped and turned slightly to see him leaning on the table. "Considering who your father is, I expected the slight disregard of respect by the Batman reference. I find it amusing since the name I gave you was a deliberate poke to see what your reaction would be. From now on, I want you to keep in mind that most people will not put up with such antics and will view it as disrespect of the highest order. Until you can defend yourself against those you choose to poke with a very large stick like that Australian fellow does with the animals on that television show, I suggest you keep yourself in check. Understand young lady?"

"Yes sir," I replied.

"Good," he said. "Your books are at the desk. Tell your mother I said hello." He clapped his hands together and started to pick up the objects I threw on the floor. I took the exit while I could and dashed out, running down the hall and hitting the stair well at full blast. Marcus raised an eyebrow at me as I snatched the books on the desk without a word and sprinted out the front door. I was disappointed to see Carlos parked outside once again to drive me home.

"I see you are alive, so you at least kept yourself in check," he told me as I jumped in and buckled up.

"I guess I did," I replied without bothering to correct him. "Let's get me home. I am starving."

"Yes, m'lady," he laughed as he turned the key and the truck roared to life. He gave me a grin as he put it in gear before speeding to the house.

* * *

"Mom, do you need help with the dishes?" I asked as my mother worked furiously over the sink.

"Just go on upstairs and sleep," she said with forced cheerfulness, not even looking at me. "I am sure that you have had a tiring day so I can handle this."

"Mom, I want to help," I said, moving over to see the determination on her face as she scrubbed the pan she used to make the meatloaf we devoured in record time.

"Maggie, I love you, but I need you to go upstairs if you really want to help me," she sighed and gave me a brief exasperated look. "Honey, I am not upset with you, I just didn't want you to end up tangled up in the supernatural world. I am worried about you. Just give me some time to get used to having another child in my life with the ability to light candles with a single word and blows up cell phones within a few minutes of touching them."

"But can't I just-"

"Why don't you go help your father in the workshop?" Mom interrupted, scrubbing vigorously on her skillet. "I am sure he can find you something to do out there." I took that dismissal without argument and went out to see the workshop doors wide open with the noise of a sander filling the air. Daniel and Matthew were throwing a Frisbee while Mouse ran between them. He was making half-hearted attempts to snatch it out of the air, but I had a feeling that if he really wanted it that the Frisbee would be in his mouth in moments. I left them to their own devices and went into the workshop, finding Dad leaning over a table with the sander.

"Dad!" I screamed. He looked up, the sander coming to a halt.

"What?" he asked, bewilderment filling his face.

"You need any help?" I yelled, my ears still ringing from the loud noise.

"Actually, I have something for you," he said, putting the sander down and taking off his goggles. He walked over to his worktable where an ornate quarterstaff was resting. His hand rested next to it as he gave me a "Go ahead and touch it" look. When I picked it up, he stepped back and started to put away his tools. "I figured, since you were starting your lessons, you could use this."

"What is it?" I asked, turning it over in may hands to study the carvings.

"A tool of your trade," he told me, wiping his hands on a damp towel.

"Who has been working on it?" I asked.

"Why don't you get some of those books you were given and try to carve something on it in the spaces?" he told me, giving me a wave as he walked out of the workshop. As if on cue, Little Harry came in carrying my stack of books.

"Oh great," I groaned. He set the books on my worktable and gave me a grin. "You are enjoying this, aren't you?"

"My teacher was a bit less on the book work than yours," he said. "Mine took me out in the woods and had me doing some free landscaping for a friend with my gift." He pulled up a stool as I sat down and opened up my books. "The friend lives out in the middle of an island, and he was needing some help cleaning up an area for him to work and cook over till Dad could take some time off to help him get the shack move livable."

"So you used your powers to clean up some trees?" I asked, flipping through the book about sigils.

"Oh, something like that," he said amusedly. "Though, I have a feeling your powers may lay in a much different area than mine."

"What can you do?" I asked.

"I will show you one day, when you are ready," he chuckled.

"Does Amanda or Hope have any magic?" I sneered, turning the staff over in my hands and taking note of the amount of space left.

"Actually, only the three of us have it," he sighed. "Look, Mags, I know this is an interesting time for you-"

"Yes, let's call it interesting," I snapped, standing turning to face him with my arms folded over my chest. "I find out that I am filled with this magic stuff that makes my life a living hell when it comes to electronics. Dad won't talk to me, Mom barely looks at me, and I have to take magic lessons that require bookwork as well as my regular schoolwork. My new best friends, having replaced the girl who was wrapping spells around me most of our lives, are weapons geniuses when it comes to their respective weapons. Two of my brothers and my oldest sibling are wizards, and even my brother-in-law has magic. Oh, and let's not forget that my dog is not really a normal dog!" I screeched the last word, bringing said "dog" running to the shop doors with the Frisbee in his mouth.

"Ah," Little Harry winced. "Carlos told you he was a Foo dog huh?"

"A…what?" I asked through clenched teeth, my arms going to my sides with fists clenched. Mouse whimpered, and trotted off.

"Ummmm, a Foo dog," Little Harry said, his voice going meek under my glare. "They…they are usually used to guard the Temples of Tibetan monks and others like that."

"They are," I replied darkly. Little Harry nodded. "Carlos still here?" Little Harry nodded again. "Good. He and I are going to have a little chat. Clean this up for me and bring it inside will you?" I didn't bother waiting for an answer. I stormed into the house, and proceeded to give my dear brother-in-law a tongue lashing so like my mother it made her proud.

* * *

**Author's Note: So, I know it has been a while. Once again, I am sorry. Work has been hellacious on me as of late, and I have had some writers block. Also, cleaning the house has been getting in the way of this chapter, because every time I sit down to work on it, dishes and laundry call my name. It is also a much shorter chapter than I would have liked. but cannot force what won't come I suppose  
**

**I want to thank all the reviewers and all the followers who have been patiently waiting for this. If anyone has any ideas or GOOD suggestions, please let me know.**


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